A Chilean Christmas

Between the 85-degree heat and a midnight BBQ at Entre Todas, this Christmas was a world (or at least a hemisphere) away from my past Christmas experiences. Here in Chile they celebrate on Christmas Eve with a big dinner and gifts, then Christmas Day, though no one works, seems to be more of a normal day, perhaps with a special dinner. Chris and I, along with a couple of veteran volunteers, Ann and Quique, arrived at Entre Todas late in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. Quique’s parents and brother had traveled to Chile from Spain for the holidays and came along for the celebration. Quique’s family jumped right in, talking and playing beautifully with the girls. It became obvious how deeply they crave that family energy and atmosphere, so I think having them there made a significant positive impact on the day.

We spent the evening drawing with sidewalk chalk, playing with Frisbees and taking pictures of the girls who all got dolled up for the evening with fancy hair and make-up. They were, for the most part, in great moods, so playing and goofing around was really fun. A few of them had teary moments, but by the time Quique and his parents started firing up the grill, everyone seemed happy. At about 11:45 p.m. we sat down for dinner. After dinner Ann dressed up as Santa and handed out the girls’ gifts. It breaks my heart a little to see them open presents here—there have been a few rounds of presents already throughout the past week—since the gifts are all, for the most part, the same. Once the first girl opens her present, the rest of the girls know basically what they’ll receive. They still open them excitedly, though, and love receiving new clothes and chapstick, etc.

After gift time, the tía on duty told the girls they could stay up until 4:00 a.m., an announcement which was met by huge cheers. Chris, Quique, and Quique’s family made their way out the door at around 1:30 or 2:00, then Ann and I stayed and watched Shrek the Halls in Spanish with the girls and left around 3:00. During our cab ride home we marveled at the day, wondering how it would have gone without us. It seems to me that the single tía on duty simply could not have managed the meal preparations in the kitchen as well as running the grill outside, let alone spending time with the girls. By bringing the chalk and Frisbees and, most importantly, seven(!) extra bodies, we helped the day be more fun than an average day at Entre Todas, and that feels really, really good.

On Christmas morning, Ann, my friend Lindsay and I made a pancake breakfast and watched A Christmas Story. It was the perfect way to spend the morning—it even felt a tiny bit like Christmas! I then went back to Entre Todas for a few hours, although the girls were exhausted so we mostly just watched TV. Chris and I headed straight from Entre Todas to the volunteer house where we held a hilarious Christmas dinner. The plan was to make a vegetarian, gluten-free lasagna, have roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, and everyone else would bring sides and desserts. For some reason, everyone thought grocery stores would be open on Christmas Day, but everyone was wrong. Paul, who had been in charge of providing chicken, did not get to the store before Christmas Day and so instead ordered Dominoes pizza for his contribution, which mysteriously came with two quarts of ice cream and four liters of Coke. I had managed to buy the gluten-free lasagna noodles (finding those here in Chile was a Christmas miracle in and of itself) the day before, and Chris and Jessica, the other vegetarians, bought sauce and veggies, but no one bought cheese. Lindsay had purchased ten pounds of potatoes but no cream or milk to mash them with. Needless to say, we were all a little concerned about feeding the twelve to fifteen people we had promised to feed. By the grace of someone or something, however, we managed to find a tiny little market open and bought cheese for the lasagna and milk for the potatoes.

Though she had never mashed potatoes before, Lindsay’s potatoes were beyond delicious. And the lasagna, which I was convinced would be a disaster, ended up being not only the world’s first round lasagna, but also amazingly delicious. While assembling the lasagna, we couldn’t find the rectangular pan but found a sufficiently deep round one, so set about trimming noodles to fit and made a beautiful creation. When we opened the oven to light it, however, there sat the rectangular pan. Ah, Chile. Everyone else who came brought chips and ice cream because gas stations were the only stores open by the time they headed to the house. There was certainly nothing traditional about the meal but we were well fed and well amused. After dinner we held a lively Yankee swap, then gave in to our food comas. It really was a lovely day.