May your days be merry and bright.

We had some epic snow here in Louisville. I really wasn't planning on joining everyone in taking a snow day yesterday, but I changed my mind by about 2:30 as I left an appointment and I saw the massive flakes falling. My 20-minute drive home became an hour and fifteen minutes! Yikes. 

I've been putting together a little package for Emma, my adorable sister who's serving a mission in Peru. It makes me so happy to think about her Peruvian Christmas. My Puerto Rican Christmases were the best. So simple, and so wonderful. The first, with my trainer, Hermana Walters (Hermana=sister in Spanish) and the second, with my trainee, Hermana Obando.

Hermana Walters was from Utah. I still remember my very first Friday night in Puerto Rico. The town we were in was putting on an event outdoors, with different musicians performing. Somehow our church had gotten a gig, and one of the church leaders happened to be a professional salsa singer. So, one of my first memories consists of feeling very out of place--a white girl, in my maroon, flowered Jody dress--singing backup to a Puerto Rican salsa singer in front of a town full of strangers. It was surreal. (where are my Hermana Walters pictures? not on facebook, apparently.)

Hermana Obando was Columbian. She was so darling. My mom sent us a gingerbread house kit and we made it together--it was Hna Obando's first one, as I'm sure you can imagine. My mom also sent us these little stuffed animals, which Hna Obando promptly named after one of the Elders she had a crush on. I'm sure I was properly horrified yet amused. Somebody in the branch there (we were in Arecibo, PR), let me borrow a cuatro (like a guitar, but with fewer strings and tuned differently) and I learned to play one song on it, which Hermana Obando and I sang at the Christmas party that year. Most Latinos can't sing, and she was no exception. But oh, how I loved it all just the same. 

with Hermana Obando. once someone asked me if I was her mom--a definite low point in my life.

Mission Christmases really were the best. I wish I could explain better.

Anyway, Emma's in Peru. Today I made her a couple of printables and picked up some odds and ends. Nothing much, really. The flat-rate envelope I will be sending is pretty teensy. I can't wait to hear about her Christmas. Here in Louisville, things are really feeling Christmasy. Real snow! And last night, we listened to Christmas music, hung lights, played chess, and drank hot cocoa. Doesn't get much more magical than that.

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