1st of all, I know the Spanish word for year has squiggly line over it, but I don't know how to make that happen.
And a merry Christmas it was. Christmas festivities here at IMPACTO were fun even if they did leave the place looking like a train wreck. Though we didn't do "A Christmas Carol" (short sweet Charles Dickens' version, which is now getting postponed until January or February due to lack of rehearsal time) the middle schoolers and high schoolers did a short play about being nice and generous. One of the volunteers directed it and they had a merry time. That, combined with the caroling and gift giving made IMPACTO Christmas a one for the books. The kids were thrilled and our building even looked like a winter wonderland with all the Christmas decorations snowmen etc going up. It was a blessing to see some of the kids' faces when they opened presents, many of whom may have received the only gift they were going to get this Christmas. Some of them even bought into a Latino Santa Clause.
There are also a couple of community traditions around Christmas time that we got the opportunity to partake in. The first was the mass for our Lady of Guadalupe. It wasn't just the mass, the whole first half of December or so was dedicated to celebration of the patroness of Mexico and there were cries of "Que Viva" (kind of like "Long live the queen") during processions as early as December 2nd, when I joined the confirmation class and other community members in the first of several processions. The second was on one of my roommates birthdays and his parents had the opportunity to visit him and experience a local church procession complete with Aztec dancers and sage. Still, that wasn't it. The novena completed on December 12th with a Mass and las mananitas beginning at 3:45 in the morning. And we managed to wake up and, bundled in blankets that we didn't need once we got in the church, listened to awesome Mariachi music and then celebrated Mass.
Then as we all were preparing to go home for a Christmas break with our family, we also participated in Las posadas, a call and response procession, celebrated nightly from December 16th until the 23rd, The group of faithful people process to 3 houses, recreating the journey of Mary & Joseph and at each house they sing a song, creating a dialogue between the choir and the people, representing the innkeepers and Mary & Joseph. There is also a testimony about education, faith, etc. Then the group continues on to the next house until the final stop, where they are finally permitted to enter and usually fed. Our house had the honor of being the first stop the night before I left Los Angeles for the return home.
Between these celebrations and advent/Christmas, December was a very spiritual month. It finished perfectly and beautifully in the opportunity to visit family and friends and reconnecting with communities back home.
In the new year I will strive to update this blog more often as I experience the rest of this year in Los Angeles and whatever awaits beyond. Happy 2013. May it be blessed.
