February 16, 2010

I’ve been trying to open up my blogs that I made for Christmas time, but they don’t work anymore. So I’ll give you a short summary. One of the volunteers had their parents visiting and their church donated new clothes for all the kids here at the Hogar. The night before Christmas Eve, we stayed up wrapping the clothes up for the kids. It was a really fun night. We were all super excited to give the presents to the kids. Christmas Eve came and Maria Jose and Txus took the kids into the cafeteria to play some “games.” They weren’t supposed to get Christmas presents this year, but thanks to Hannah’s church, they were able to. While Maria Jose and Txus were distracting them, we were loading all of their gifts into a wheelbarrow and we put on our costumes. Hannah dressed as an elf and the rest of us were reindeer. The second we walked into the cafeteria, everyone broke out in cheers. Some kids jumped out of their seats and ran to meet us. That was the best Christmas I’ve had. Seeing those kids react like that was such an amazing feeling. I felt like a mother. All I wanted to do was see them open their presents and watch them jump with excitement when they saw their new shirt or their new cleats. I didn’t need or want anything else. It was great. After that, the kids went outside and lit some firecrackers. It was fun watching, but , I decided to go to bed before I collapsed. The next day, it was great. No one had to wake up early and we didn’t have to make the kids do any chores. The kids still woke up early and woke me up, but it wasn’t as loud as it normally was. Breakfast was on the kitchen counter and we could eat whenever we felt like it. The kids played soccer for a lot of the day and I relaxed. It was a very very very good day.