My First Honduran Christmas

This has been my “first” Christmas to be celebrated in Honduras and overall, it’s been a very pleasant learning experience. Originally, I was somewhat appalled at the level of commercialization of this religious holiday, with excessive store displays, huge amounts of various decorations, presents and other assorted stuff available to purchase and the sense of urgency for buying and selling throughout the city of La Ceiba.

Thankfully, there were other much more positive aspects of the season that I discovered. There was an early evening when the hymns from a church service came floating through the air into the apartment and there were the sounds of stereos playing familiar Christmas tunes in both English and Spanish. Admittedly, “Frosty the Snowman” doesn’t work for me in either language but I was totally enamoured with “The First Noel” in the soft sounds of Spanish.

It seems to me that a Honduran Christmas is primarily celebrated on the evening before, complete with presents for children, food, refreshments and family gatherings lasting long, long into the night. The decorations have been up, set out and plugged in for weeks beforehand; fireworks of all sizes and explosive qualities are set off literally 24 hours a day for a least a week before and non religious folks celebrate by the sharing of food (tamales are a favourite) with all friends and family. Thus my Christmas Eve was spent with my family here, with friends and neighbours joining us to dance outside on the patio, enjoy small boccas and drinks and lots of laughter, music and general fun for all ages.

Christmas Day was a quiet day, with me sleeping in from the night before and then indulging myself in lots of cooking, as I’d invited the family to my place for Boxing Day dinner. There was time for making an ever increasing list of the reasons why I’m thankful to be alive, to be here in La Ceiba and blessed with the companionship of caring people (here and elsewhere!) in my life. There was time for visits with my girlfriend and her house guest, time for a walk on the beach (before the afternoon deluge!) and a lovely lazy evening curled up with a good story book.

Wishing you all blessings of peace, joy and love in your lives, and still making my “thank you’s”, Stephanie