Costa Ricans begain to get ready for Chritmas toward the end of October or early November. Decorations are put up and Christmas trees. Presents are wrapped and pictures are taken in the park with santa. Some also put up a nativity.
In Costa Rica Christmas is celebrated on December 24th. Family geather for a midnight dinner and gift opening. At this time of year almost everyone makes or buys tamales. This is the traditional Christmas food. Sometimes churches will geather for a Christmas eve service and to eat a tamale together. Often people also light fireworks. The morning of the 25th is usually spent sleeping in.
This year we celebrated at Randall´s sisters house in Punta Renas near the beach. It was so hot that it didn´t really seem like Christmas. Most people who put up trees in the hotter areas usually put them up outside in the porch. I think it must be because of the extra heat from the lights.
Randall´s sister had to move 2 days before Christmas so we were very busy helping them so we really didn´t decorate or anything.
On Christmas Eve we went to the service at their church and ate tamales. On the 26th we went down to the pier on the beach at 8pm to see the fireworks. Josiah really loved them and was not even scared!
This year no one in the family gave or received gifts (wrapped and under the tree) because of the move and financial reasons. We did give Josiah a big bag of Duplo type blocks and his aunt and uncle gave him a snowman stocking with a picture frame on it. Mostly Randall´s family took their children shopping for clothes.
Because of the busy days and heat it didn´t really seem like Christmas at least as we often celebrate it in the US but we really enjoyed the family time. The most memorable part was seeing Josiah´s excitement at seeing the Christmas lights and trees. We went to downtown one night and walked around and looked at the lights and decorations in the store windows and parks. He cried when we had to leave after nearly 2 hours of walking!
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