A Christmas to Remember

A real life short story about the true spirit of Christmas

As many of you know, I love Christmas, from the cookies, to the mass, to the presents, I love all of it. It came as no surprise then when several members of my family who knew I had just moved to the city with the teenagers emailed my asking how they could help out with Christmas. So I asked Nolvia, Nelly, Marina, Carlos, and Arturo to make a list; I made no promises, I just said I would pass it along. Neither I nor they had any idea of what was to come.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

After a wonderful nine days of Posadas (see blog Advent: A Season of Hope and Joy in Waiting) and all of Ceiba decorated to the nines for Christmas, the spirit was upon us, and we were ready for the big day to arrive. We started Christmas Eve with breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, a yummy treat courtesy of Scott Satterlee, a friend of the finca whose family helps us out here in Ceiba. We then returned to the apartments to receive phone calls from a couple former finca vols wishing us well. The girls then headed to Burger King with the laptop to put up fun Christmas statuses on their facebooks, while Nils and I began the cooking and baking of a traditional Honduran Christmas dinner which was paid for by a local jewelry. The girls then came back and along with the boys helped us finish up dinner. After getting all dressed up, and myself enjoying a phone call to my aunt’s Christmas party and other family, we headed over to the boys’ side of the apartment for dinner with the Satterlees. We enjoyed tamales, chicken sandwiches, fruit salad, grapes, Christmas cookies, and soda. All ate till they were full.

We then headed to a beautiful Christmas concert in the cathedral before midnight mass. They had a soloist from Nolvia’s hometown and sang the most beautiful rendition of O Holy Night. We then all stayed for a truly beautiful midnight mass. You could almost feel that the true spirit of Christmas was not just being talked about, but was truly all around us. After mass we headed back to the apartments for more grapes, sandwiches, desserts, and sparkling cider. We watched fireworks from our porch and called the farm to wish everyone a merry Christmas.

The girls were itching to open a present before they went to bed, so I let them have their stockings. In true Battle family household traditional each contained an orange, socks, and a new toothbrush among other things. The girls then went to bed, and round one of Santa’s elves went to work. Nils and I both stayed up late finishing wrapping presents and making everything perfect for the morning. At the farm, our kids normally get presents twice a year, on their birthday and on Christmas. This usually consists of a new outfit of donated clothing and an age appropriate toy or game. In the spirit of our very blessed Christmas, one of the current volunteers parents actually sent us some money so we could buy something extra for the teens this Christmas, this combined with gifts from Nils and I made Christmas morning truly beautiful. Nils and I even made cinnamon rolls (Me) and a special Norwigan egg dish (Nils) for breakfast. The kids were all super happy to get their gifts, especially Marina with her Real Espana jersey and Carlos with his new clock with river sound effects. We spent the rest of afternoon just relaxing around the house.

That night we headed over to the Satterlee house for a traditional American dinner of pork and roasted garlic mashed potatoes. This was simply delicious and very kind of their family. After discovering that the movie theatre was already sold out, we headed back to the house to watch part 2 of the Harry Potter 7 movie, which half the kids hadn’t seen yet. They all enjoyed, and headed off to sleep. Little did they know what would arrive the next day.

Christmas Day 2

The next day was a pretty calm day around the house, Sor Keidy, Amanda, and Betsy arrived from the farm, but that was about it. Then at 6:30, Christmas part 2 arrived in the form of my amazing sisters. Both of my sisters, Megan and Ann, arrived for their week long vacation with me here in Honduras. Between the two of them, my mom, my aunt Meg, my cousin Meredith, former finca vol Jennie Maria, and my sisters’ boyfriend Matt, they also had put together some presents for the kids. They essentially took the lists that I emailed my family, got everything and more, wrapped it in beautiful paper, and sent it all down in two giant suitcases. Not even I knew the extent of what was to come.

The kids eyes glowed as they saw the piles forming of presents with their name on them. When they had written their lists I don’t think they had even dreamed of getting everything on them, yet in front of them sat piles of presents for each one. They asked me if they could start opening and I said of course.

Words cannot express the joy that proceeded to exude from their faces as they opened their presents. They not only got new clothes, they got new clothes just for them from Hollister, and American Eagle, and Aeropostale. The girls got new jeans, dresses, multiple t shirts, sweaters, and nail polish, all perfectly fitting their style. The boys got multiple t shirts, sweaters, hats, and shorts also fitting their styles. Then Ann pulled out calendars, I think Marina skipped a few heart beats when she saw the Twilight calendar in her hands, whereas the boys just smiled at their super cool dragon calendars while they rapidly opened their new games as well. Then Megan pulled out another box, Jennie Maria not only sent books she sent 8 new books in Spanish, including the Hunger Game series, the concluding novels of the Eragon series Carlos has been searching for, and two books by Marina’s favorite author John Grisham. Marina and Carlos literally jumped out of their seats to see them closer.

One would think that my sisters were all done, but the magic continued. They brought Nils a glow in the dark mini basketball hoop for his door, and Sor Keidy two liturgical music CDs. Then in a moment of true surprise Megan handed me a brand new kindle for me from her, my aunt Meg and uncle Murray. I was literally in shock, I am an avid reader and could not imagine something better. With a kindle I could download books in Spanish for the girls, get books for Nils and I, even get updated Economist and New York Times to read periodically. She even loaded it up before she left with a bunch of books she thought I might like. My sisters then proceeded to pull out my stocking I have had since childhood full of stuff from my parents, really cool new clothes from Ann, a beautiful necklace from my Aunt Ellen and Uncle B, a box of my favorite type of chocolate petit fors from my mom, and snorkeling gear from Matt all for me. I couldn’t believe my own eyes, nor did I know where to look.

As soon as I looked up I found Carlos exiting and entering his room to model all his new clothes for us. I found Arturo neatly reviewing every gift with a smile worth a thousand words. I found Marina finding it literally hard to decide rather to focus on her new clothes, the twilight calendar, or start reading the new books right away. I found Nelly with all her clothes piled on top of her lap giggling with joy. I saw Nolvia laughing and smiling in near unbelief. These kids had almost never received anything new in their lives, and if so it was probably just for a school uniform. But here they had a pile of new cool things bought just for them in America. Their pure joy touched my heart in a way I cannot explain.

Then the true spirit of Christmas provided one more little miracle. They next day was Carlos’ little brother Cesar’s birthday, and my sisters and I were headed to the finca. As they were collecting the trash of wrapping paper, Carlos was grabbing his favorite kind. He was reusing it to wrap up one pair of his new shorts to send to his brother as a birthday present. When I asked him if he wanted to keep them, he said no, they are for Cesar, and to please take the first two books of the Eragon series as well, he had already read them, but was sure Cesar would love them as well. Later on my sister brought out a bag of toys they got at target, and each of the kids with siblings on the farm picked something out for each sibling. The next day every gift was received with a giant smile.

O Holy Night

That night Megan asked me if I was having trouble sleeping as I was simply sitting in my bed. She was across from me in another bed, and Ann in the top bonk of my own bed. I told her I was fine, the truth was I was in such great disbelief of the beauty and grace of the night. I don’t think all the people who worked as elves on this project realized in the process what amazing work they were doing. Not only did my sisters fly down to Honduras to see me during Christmas, they worked with my entire family and Jennie Maria to put together a Christmas that Marina, Nelly, Nolvia, Carlos, Arturo, Sor Keidy, Nils, and I will never forget. They bought me the most amazing personalized gifts I could not have even imagined on my own. They split up wish lists, and made them realities for kids who almost don’t believe in wish lists they have been let down so often in life. With the exception of my mom who visited last year, and Jennie Maria, a former vol, my family put together gifts for kids they have never met in their lives, simply because they care that much about the real spirit of Christmas, a spirit of true giving in gratitude for the great love that is present on this holy night.

That night I slept wonderfully; and despite my lingering cough, I could not keep from smiling as I eventually fell asleep. As I thought back to thanksgiving just four weeks earlier I remembered listening to Faith Hill’s rendition of “O Holy Night” as Deirdre and I fell asleep. All I could think was that this too was truly a holy night. After welcoming in the Christmas season at a beautiful midnight mass the night before, and witnessing the amazing blessing and Christmas miracle that was my family’s presents for the kids and myself, all I could do was smile in awe at my two sisters and at life and its abundant blessings; especially the blessings of Ann, Megan, Mom, Dad, Meg, Meredith, Matt, and Jennie, to who I am forever grateful to for your kindness and generosity to myself and all the teens here in Ceiba.