The clock is ticking to get this posted before 2014 ends...
I spent Christmas in Honduras this year. The thing I enjoyed the most was the lack of commercialism; the only ads I saw or heard were the ones that pop up in Spotify Radio telling me about a Macy's sale or JCPenney's specials. The stores and mall in La Ceiba had up fake trees, Christmas lights, etc but out here in the village/
campo things looked pretty normal. The hospital did decorate with a couple of Christmas trees, and had some fun holiday events like a time for all the employees to get their photos taken, and an employee dinner that they all enjoyed immensely.
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| Christmas decoration |
Someone organized a Christmas program of Christmas carols in Spanish that was put on in the nearby central park. There was a great turnout, partly due to the mayor also putting on a Christmas dinner for people immediately after the show. The people participating in the program had never sung in a choir before, didn't know how to sing parts, and didn't know any of the Christmas carols besides 'Feliz Navidad.' I was impressed with all the work that went into it, and then how proud all the participants were of what they achieved.
Christmas Eve here is tamale day. Every family makes and eats tamales as the special holiday meal. My housekeeper, Santos, let us join her for the process. We joined at the fun part, actually assembling the tamales, then steaming/boiling and eating them. We missed the prep work that had started the day before with killing 3 chickens, cooking the meat, picking the banana leaves, heating them over the fire, and boiling the corn. We arrived after the 5:30am trip to the
molinero (grinder) to get the boiled corn pureed into mush, and stirring the corn mush as it cooked together with various spices.
Our portion was prepping each individual tamale with some corn meal, a couple of veggies, and the chicken (bones and all). Definitely the fun part!
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| Santos showing us what to put in each tamale |
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| the homemade steamer- pieces of palm stalk at the bottom of a pot, then pot filled with water |
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| pot full of tamales boiling over a fire |
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| prepping more of the tamale cornmush- the key is to never stop stirring so it doesn't get lumpy or burn |
Christmas Day itself I was on call, so started the day with a trip to the hospital to round on patients, see someone in the ER, etc. Then Megan and I joined the Stockton family with their 4 girls to open presents. Back to my house for several hours of baking before we had Christmas turkey dinner with the Stocktons and Yosts. Delicious food, good company, and the excitement of children.
Because all of my posts have to include something about babies, I'll mention that I did my first completely solo C-section (no other surgeon in the room) on the 23rd. Great way to end the year :)
