first christmas in the u.s.

today i was overwhelmed.

and overjoyed.

and uber grateful.

a few months ago i managed to "win" - i got one of my clients chosen for the ultimate christmas. a family contacted catholic charities and said they wanted to "adopt" a refugee family for christmas. one of my families, a refugee family from Chin State in Burma, was chosen to be their lucky adopted family. i helped them to create their "need" and "want" lists, all the while encouraging them not to expect to receive everything they were asking for! i had no idea what i had gotten them into....

this afternoon i went over to my clients' apartment, where i met the donor family, and their MOVING TRUCK. a huge garbage bag FULL of presents was dropped off - one bag for each person in the family. a box full of steaks was placed in the refrigerator for their holiday meal. my clients, a family of 5, had been sleeping on the floor until the donor family brought them bunkbeds. i was in awe.

this is my clients' first christmas in the united states. they told me that last saturday was the first time they had ever seen snow in their lives. the donor family's children and i then brainstormed all the fun things to do with snow and tried to explain to my clients what fun can be had with this weird white substance falling from the sky!

the mother of the family knows next to zero english. through giggles and holding back tears, she managed to say "i am very very thank you" along with several "merry christmas"es. it was PRECIOUS. she asked for each person in the donor family's name so that she could pray for each of them, because that was the only way she was able to thank them.

the family said they would wait until christmas day to open their presents.

when i went back to discuss their phone bill with them later in the afternoon, everything was already open :) ha! air mattresses, laptop, vacuum, clothes upon clothes, winter coats, mp3 players, playstation 3, and MORE. wow.

i am in awe of this donor family's generosity. they seriously just changed this refugee family's lives around. it was obvious that they were extremely wealthy, and perhaps buying all these presents to them was like dropping a few pennies on the ground for me and not picking them up. but regardless of this, that family really embraced what christmas should be about. i felt, and feel, truly blessed to have been a part of such generosity, and the sharing of such hope and joy.

merry christmas!

(...and now each of you should go adopt a refugee family! ha!)

cascanueces!!!

i just spent probably too long looking at my pictures from the christmas season of last year. at the time, i was really struggling to be away from home during the holidays, and strove to recreate every tradition possibly recreated whilst in mexico (including cinnamon rolls and red cake). i remember feeling very distanced from everyone at home, and feeling like it wasn't really christmas. but looking back, i think christmas time was some of my favorite times last year. i made new memories, did new things, and embraced christmas in a new way. i am grateful for my experience of christmas 2009!

one thing i remember that i did that TRULY got me in the christmas spirit last year was going to see Cascanueces (the nutcracker!). And again, as my mother and grandmother taught me to, i went to see the nutcracker this year.

my housemates, john and tina, and i got all dressed up, went out for indian food (yum!) and then headed to Music Hall downtown to see The Nutcracker. No version of the nutcracker will be as perfect as the one from my childhood at stranahan theatre, but i always enjoy it no matter what the differences are. it was QUITE the delight to see!

and the best part - as we were walking out of the show, we were greeted by a huge winter swirling snowy storm! this created a tense (at least for me) drive home, but it was seriously beautiful. so far it's been the one and only sighting of snow out in this hot land of kansas (it was 50 today!) i am very much looking forward to going home on thursday to a REAL winter wonderland.

in the meantime, enjoy a few photos of me and my housemates pumped for the nutcracker