Feliz Navidad

Last year we met some of our cousins south of Cancun. We spent the week before Christmas with them.


We rode bikes back into the jungle to visit Mayan ruins:

We had Coba to ourselves:


We hung out with the cousins on the beach, at the resort, all day, all night:

We wore tennis shoes to the beach:
Lily and Gabe got along fine:
Then we said goodbye to our Grandparents and Cousins and drove 5 hours south in a mini van shoved to the top with school supplies and toys to a little town called Xcalak. They had been hit by Hurricane Dean earlier in the year. We delivered 6 very large suitcases of supplies, donated by friends and our church, to the school there.

Xcalak is a small fishing village right on the Belize border. The closest store is about 2 hours away and there are no resorts, hotels, hospitals or supplies nearby, except what you can buy at the little village gas station. The village is as big as 2 city blocks.

We rented this house about 2 miles away from the village. You really have to know how to entertain yourself here. We mostly did nothing:

Watched the morning sunrises:


Combed the beach, where we found lots of conch shells and Mayan pottery shards:
Relaxed:


Made some art:
Explored the Great Mayan Reef (2nd only to the Great Barrier Reef in Austraila):


Snorkled right out in front of the house:

Our Xcalak Christmas went like this:

We had a Christmas Eve beach fire where we lit fireworks, roasted Mexican marshmallows (the best), sang loud Christmas carols around the fire, and acted out stories of Christmas' past (the care-taker's children spied on us and that made our kids really put on a show). Then Roland read the story in Luke of Christ's birth.

That is the moon in the background, reflecting off the ocean.

Woke up early Christmas morning to find "stockings" filled with sea shells, pesos, and a piece of Mexican candy:

Can you see the little Christmas tree that Roland made?

We opened our presents - one for each person- handmade and less than $15 spent. This is our loot:

Ike's present, wrapped in a clam shell and banana leaves.

We were thrilled with and loved our presents: a key chain (hannah) , a hemp bracelet (ike), a beautiful conch shell (roland), a hand decorated t-shirt (noah), a photo album (gabe) and artwork from my childhood.

We got all dressed up and walked up the beach for Christmas dinner at an ex-pat neighbor's home.

Then we took a long walk up the beach and came home to relax, snorkel, read, and enjoy the rest of Christmas day.
I dropped the camera and broke it right before we delivered the supplies and gifts. I wish I had pictures of the destruction caused by the hurricane and the supplies that we delivered. It was really cool and the kids still talk about it.