Christmas Day in Cuenca

Dear Family and Friends,

Chuck, Jim, Audrey and I had a quiet Christmas day.

We had a nice brunch and then opened our stockings and gifts.

Christmas trees are quite new to this culture. Not many people have them and the government keeps reminding the citizens that the nativity is their custom, not Christmas trees.

Those who have Christmas trees have only artificial ones. There are no fresh cut trees to be purchased.

Chuck and I decided to not have a tree to be in keeping with our new home.

We did however, put our stockings under our flower arrangement just to have a focal point for our gifts.

Here is a picture of Chuck and I sitting beside our "Christmas Focal Point."


For Christmas dinner, we had a very non traditional meal. Grilled steaks, potatoes, sauteed mushrooms and a green salad.

We had a very special guest, Nikki. Nikki has been reading my blog and emailed me before we even left the U.S. She said that she would be in Cuenca and would like to meet us. She called me on Christmas Eve and I invited her to come for our Christmas dinner. She is a very delightful 21 year old woman. She helped make our Christmas special and we are so glad to know her. I have a feeling we will be seeing quite a bit of her in the future.

Today was the first day of the modernizing of our bus system. Audrey has done a wonderful blog regarding the new system. Click here to read all about it.

Now we are getting ready for New Years celebrations.

Love,
Nancy and Chuck