Yesterday a couple of friends of ours decided to host a Christmas Party...there is this guy named Earl, he's a biker from the states and says he used to work in waste management (he was a prison guard) and he looks a lot like Santa does to these kids...he's not fat, he's not round, he's a sweet quiet kind of guy...In the states you might look at him and think he's dangerous but here, the kids seem to relate him to Santa...
The friends we've made here, Dove and Phil own Copperbank Inn.  They are like Charlie and I in that we don't want to be one of the "gringos" behind the gates that don't mingle and get to know the people that are here.  We are not here to start endowments or to change these peoples lives, we are here to enjoy them and if we can help we would like to make their lives a little easier.   It's not an easy life here, it requires a bit of work but it's something that you know that you have made a choice on a simpler lifestyle so you take the good with the bad....So, Dove decided to put out a Christmas party where all the kids got to meet Santa, get a picture of themselves with him and a cookie and/or candy cane was given to each of them.  We were late in starting but then it was amazing at how many kids did show up.  There was about 120 kids in this village and I think they all showed...and it was wonderful.
I am amazed though at how difficult some people find it to put themselves out there like Dove and Phil did and do something for this little community.  If you knew the history of Dove and Phil you would think it even more amazing but that's a story for another day,....They went all out and had pictures taken, gifted candy and cookies to these kids and the kids were just amazed by all of it.  They have so little here that something like that overwhelms them.  Some of the kids live in virtual shacks with no electric.  They have gotten by on that lifestyle and don't know they could have better so they are content.....
It makes me wonder at my own "content-ness".  I have so much and I am thankful for all that has been given to me,  my family, my kids, my husband and pets and friends and the materialistic things I have.  Sometimes I think about my lifestyle I had in New York and how it was about keeping up appearances and worrying about providing that new video game my daughters wanted or to have the money for the dance or singing classes.  As parents we all want to provide our kids with the best that we can.....I think about how after the party I came back to look at my internet and find out that 27 kids had died in Connecticut and how their parents probably wouldn't care right now what it took to provide those kids with what they wanted, they would just enjoy having them back for a small Christmas party like the one that Dove and Phil put on for the village kids and I wonder, are we so different after all?
Life in the states was hard too....It was mentally demanding as well as stressful to think about how we were going to keep up with the Jones and it makes me wonder if maybe the people here don't really have the right idea about life...it's not about what you have, it's about who you are and being content that maybe that is just fine.......Do you wish in this Holiday Season that life would slow down a bit so you could once again feel the power of the spirit of what made Christmas special to you?  Was it so much the gifts or was it the magic of the season that made it really special for you as a child?  Don't you think it would be great if you could go back to that time or see the magic of it shining on the face of the child in front of you as he told you he wanted a control car for Christmas and you know that his Dad the fisherman would do anything to get it for him for Christmas???  Isn't this what made us enjoy the wonder of it in our youth?.....hmmm