Season’s greetings to you from Peru!

I showed up at Hospice around 10am ready to drink some hot chocolate and try my first bite of panetón. I was greeted at the door by the familiar faces and smiles of my co-workers, some little kids anxiously awaiting their treats, and some people dressed as Papa and Mama Noel. I immediately spotted one of my favorite kids, Sol, a granddaughter of one of my patients. I went over to sit next to her and the show started. First we sung some Christmas carols and clapped along with Papa and Mama Noel. Then we played some games and danced around in a circle with the children. Last, some scripture was read about the birth of Christ and there was a short prayer and reflection on the true meaning of Christmas. It was touching to see all of the kids sitting silently, listening intently to the story of Mary and Joseph approaching Bethlehem (Or Maria and Jose, if you will). The kids were all yelling along with the story, eagerly answering “JESUS!!” to the question “And who was born to us that night??”. The true meaning of Christmas was obviously not something foreign to these children. At last, trays of hot chocolate and panetón were served. The smiles on the kid’s faces were contagious, and as I sat in the 85 degree heat drinking my hot chocolate, I couldn’t help but observe what a beautiful site it was to see all of these children having a big birthday party for Jesus. I had just experienced my first chocolotada.
Katie Langley, Incarnate Word Missionary

“Niño mañuelito que te puedo dar, niño mañuelito que te puedo dar…esta noche Jesus ha nacido, esta noche Jesus ha nacido…ven a cantar, ven a cantar…”  Singing carols at the top of our lungs we opened our Christmas celebration with the kids in our prevention program.   Faces brilliant with smiles and arms clapping in rhythm, the house usually filled with antsy students bursted with little bodies eager to party.  8 year-old Veronica read the Christmas story, I lead the group in a small reflection, and fellow teacher and friend, Rita, joined us all in prayer.  We then shared the traditional hot chocolate and panetón followed by some extra treats to reward the kids for their hard work this year.  All of our school-aged students passed to the next grade-level as hoped for in our work plan, thus we had lots to celebrate in addition to the birth of our savior!   His coming greatly coincides with the positive changes I see in many of our students during this time of evaluation at the end of the year, changes that to me signify new life, growth, and hope, in young people who are born into difficult situations that no child deserves.  I pray for the continued strength and inspiration of our team of volunteers to keep up the good work, and for our children and their families, that grace may find them when they need it most. ¡Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!  Take care and much love to you and yours!                                                                                                                               Kelli Nelson, Incarnate Word Missionary

As has become tradition, the youth movement's biggest Christmas project this year was a chocolotada for about 60 of the poorest children in our parish.  But unlike tradition, this year we decided to do it a little differently.  They still received the signature panetón and hot chocolate, but the event was not advertised as a chocolotada.  Instead, we designed it as a birthday party for Jesus.  With animation similar to that typical of birthday parties here, each youth group presented a fun Christmas song or skit, culminating in a live representation of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and angels (featuring our very own Katie Langley doing her best to hold a crying, hair-pulling, very heavy baby Jesus).  After circling the patio with the holy family, the kids re-entered the party room, where their gifts were arranged around a candle.  Each child then received a paper heart with the explanation that Jesus doesn´t need us to gift him expensive things, just our hearts.  One by one, they located their heart next to the candle, picked up a gift, and handed the gift to another child.  It was a beautiful celebration (with very few flaws) in which the youth groups united together to give a clear message to the kids: Christmas isn´t about the gifts we receive but about sharing the love that Jesus came to give us.  Perhaps the kids got more excited by the piñatas at the end, but Jesus´ love was very apparent in the laughter, sincerity and participation of the youth and children alike. Emily Ruskamp, Incarnate Word Missionary

If you let it, the holiday season can be a really special time. It can be a time to appreciate life and the lives of the ones you love. Christmas gives us an opportunity to be thankful for Christ’s presence in the world. Celebrating the New Year allows us to look back on the previous year as well as look forward towards our future.                                                                                                                                                                       In Peru the holiday season is a very important time, culturally, spiritually and of course, socially. Here though, just like in the United States, it can sometimes become easy to forget exactly why we are celebrating. It’s easy to make it about receiving. It’s easy for the holiday season to turn into something materialistic and shallow.                                                                                                                                                             We’ve probably all heard the phrase “Jesus is the reason for the season.” I wish it was that simple, too.   Spending my first Christmas in a developing country really opened my eyes to how good and also how dangerous giving can be. There’s something about the holidays that seems to make everyone more generous. We want to share. We want to give. Which is good, right?  I visited the small mountain village of Huashcayan with the posta Santa Clara, the medical center I volunteer with, to deliver gifts to the children there. There were only six of us and no fanfare. We visited with the teachers, sang Peruvian Christmas carols, shared sweetbread and hot chocolate and then gave each child a present. They were all happy and appreciative. Dr. Julia Hidalgo asked the children why they were together celebrating, “Who was born? Why are we celebrating today?”

“Jesus!” the kids yelled.

 I left feeling happy and in the Christmas spirit.                                                                                                  Later during the week the posta helped an elementary school from Chimbote deliver presents to the children of Cambio Puente, a rural area fifteen minutes away. It turned into something really horrible. Children screamed while parents jostled each other for better positions in line. Some mothers grabbed their child’s gift and left without saying a word. I felt like many had missed the point altogether, and it made me angry. At first, I blamed the parents for allowing their children to think the entire event had been about getting a new toy. “It isn’t just about receiving presents!” I wanted to yell.                           

But wasn’t it?

Hadn’t we allowed it to become all about the presents.                                                                                                

I realized that there isn’t so much a danger in giving as in the way we give. The three kings gave the holy family extravagant and seemingly impractical gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. It wasn’t the gifts that we’re important though, it was the journey they underwent and the humility in their presentation that we should emulate. When we give, we have an obligation to be intentional about the way we do it. We have a duty to protect the meaning of our holidays. We have to remember that if the message of Christ coming into the world—with everything that entails—does not form the center of our holiday rituals including gift giving, we endanger the entire meaning of the season.  

 Kyle Seymour, Incarnate Word Missionary