My lists and lots of photos

First, I realized I forgot to tell you how brave my husband is. Not because he played Papa Noel, although that took bravery because kids always want to punch your gut, but because he gave a talk in church. That’s right, Friday night at the end of the Christmas party they asked him to give a talk on Sunday, in Spanish. We calculated that total man hours for his talk was about 8, between the writing, editing, and translating. But on Sunday he read it and everyone we talked to said they could understand it. So I was very proud, because I know how much he hates giving talks in a language he speaks, let alone one he doesn’t.

Things I love:
-Day long parades featuring Mary and Papa Noel walking side by side
-Parades for any occasion featuring children
-Kids first hiding from then not leaving Papa Noel alone
-My husband bringing me a big bouquet of flowers that I know only cost $2 that I don’t realize is on the table until we come home later

Things I hate:
-Cutters. Really, why are you so important that you get to go before the rest of us? Do you think we don’t see you?
-Pushers. These are often the same as the cutters, but are also found on the side streets around parades, putting their hand on your back pushing you to make you go faster. Am I so tall you can’t see the huge line of people in front of me moving this slow?
-Parties that start at dawn that have blaring annoying music. Especially the same song over and over. What is that about?
-Traffic police and their whistles. A whistle is necessary, but not at that decibel.
-Lawyers that don’t work for their client. Especially adoption lawyers here for example.

Things I love:
-Taking pictures
-Seeing how happy the newly adopted kids are with their new families.
-Cuenca’s Christmas lights
-Girls house girls being really excited about getting new towels for Christmas
-Making 28 carmel apples for inhabitants of the OSSO house

I’m sure there are lots of other things, but these things were plaguing me for good and bad. Here are some pictures from the last bit:

Ishy Noel

Favorite cowboy guy. Award for best fashion sense of parade spectators.

Best stroller decoration. Parents, take note. Just add crackers and cookies and treats to the sides of your strollers and your kids will eat so much they will just fall asleep.

I’m really a fan of their moustaches.

Breakfast

This guy lives right next door to our building. Kids seem to love him, as they drive by in cars they are glued to the window waving and shouting hola. (The guy in green)

Christmas Eve (looks like Santa already came though) Please note the blue sun in our window. We bought icicle lights but they didn’t cover enough of the window so we fashioned that. You can see it from the park too.

My great husband bought me a tripod so I could take some pictures at night.

This wasn’t supposed to happen, but it looked cool anyway.

And if that wasn’t enough pictures, I posted a bunch more new ones of the parade, Christmas parties, Cuenca at night, etc. HERE. Enjoy.