!Feliz Navidad!
To my surprise, they actually celebrate Christmas totally different here in Peru.
The thing that's most different is that they really celebrate on Christmas Eve, and kind of treat it like New Year's Eve.
To celebrate the birth of Christ, they dance, drink, and have many fireworks. I don't really understand, but that's the beauty of experiencing other cultures I suppose.
On Christmas Eve, I got myself super festive for a family party. We all went to one of my cousin's house to celebrate. They made a big turkey, which is also a traditional Christmas food here. There were also many other traditional dishes they make for Christmas.
All of my family and I spent the night together eating, talking, and having a goodtime together. During this time, we also video-chatted with my host sister, Hillary, who is on exchange in the US. Once midnight was about to roll around, that was the big deal.
Fireworks had been going off every once in a while all night, but once it was Christmas at midnight, the sky was filled with fireworks from every direction. I loved it a lot.
After watching the fireworks for a while, we all danced back inside. Normally around Christmas time, I'm listening to Christmas music and am filled with the Christmas spirit. Which I have been for about the last 2 months. But here, no, we listen to reggaetón. Which is basically Latino dance music, sometimes trap. It's most of what I've listened to since being here. So yeah, we danced a lot, which was fun! Everyone knows I like dancing.
We stayed there until about 2 am celebrating. And that was early compared to many other Peruvians. Even on Christmas we party hard.
The next day- ok not really, it was still Christmas, so I suppose hours following the festivities, we continued to celebrate Christmas. In the morning, we all exchanged gifts, which was a great time for me. My host family got me an adorable pillow that looks like our dog, Scotty. We also shared all of the goodies I brought back from the US with me. When I came back, I checked one bag, and that one checked bag was filled with nothing but gifts and food. So I had a lot to share.
I spent the rest of Christmas just hanging out with my family. We went to a park and took a nice afternoon stroll together. The weather was perfect, too. After that, we drove around Lima, admiring the beautiful day and beaches. I also video-chatted with my family back home while I was in the car and until we returned home.
I rested some, and then was back at it later. All of my other family came back over, and we spent some more time together. When I say that, I mean we ate American snacks and played Grand Auto Theft on PlayStation. And we once again had a late night together simply doing that.
Christmas this year was certainly different, but just as joyous as always and spent with family.
Merry Christmas!
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