Chilean Christmas

Even though I had a couple adventures last weekend I will get to those in a the next post or two because I think this weeks topic definitely should be my Chilean Christmas. Unfortunately for you guys who actually read my blog and fortunately I have been outrageously busy. This has been the first morning I haven't woken up to something that ended up taking up my whole day, so I take this time to tell you about my Christmas…

If you want a quick summary so you can back to what you are all doing it was a fairly sad couple of days for me. I have avoided homesickness pretty well. I was a little homesick in October but to be honest that all passed fairly quickly. I had avoided homesickness on Thanksgiving and almost all through December (the time when they say is the hardest to be an exchange student). I had already talked myself off the ledge and had told myself that I was okay without a Christmas this year and that the next one was just going to be that much better. Then midnight came on the 24th, and we began celebrating in my house… and then it hit me. I realized that I would never be okay without a Christmas and without Christmas spirit. 

I am going to now insert the positives of the Christmas. I spent it with my host family, for the most part. My mom got me a beautiful silver necklace and everyone seemed generally happy the whole time. The food was really good. I also ready a poem that I wrote in Spanish in tradition of how we do Christmas with my family. 

Here in Chile Christmas is a little different (a tradition I have yet to understand) but they celebrate the night of the 24th when the clock strikes midnight. I do not understand this because it kind of destroys the whole Santa illusion. Unfortunately this means that the 25th is an almost nothing. This was very weird to me because every year I have generally celebrated Christmas between Black Friday and New Years. Maybe that's a little longer than it should be but I just love the whole idea behind it. The movies, the music, the family, and of course you can't leave out the presents. To have a celebration for two hours and nothing more was very odd to me. During December our town was decorated very nicely with a big tree, with lights, and with the occasional musical performance in the plaza but it just wasn't the same. In my house there was never a sign of Christmas, not even a little evidence that we were in December. It was summer outside too, that definitely didn't help. I tried watching a Christmas movie every night in Spanish but watching them alone, although fun, didn't boost the lack of spirit. I have had a rule this whole trip that I will not listen to music in English and I actually stood by that very religiously until the 24th, it was too much. I needed something to revive me. 

I am going to talk a little about the emotions I felt when the clock struck midnight and then the eventless 25th followed. All I wanted to be was with my family. We started saying Merry Christmas to each other and all of a sudden it hit me like a ton of bricks and I had to separate myself from the rest of the group for 5 minutes or so. I was saying Merry Christmas and for the first time I realized what time of the year it was and all I wanted was my family. 

So after reading this I want that all of you to really take today to appreciate your family. I have only been away from my house for almost 5 months and now I finally truly appreciate my family and would do anything to see them. Love your friends, appreciate your family and have a great day. 

P.S. I played guitar around all the shops and last minute XMAS shoppers during the 24th and made 15 bucks!