My Life in Cebu....: Christmas Gone, but Not Forgotten!

I'm waaaay behind in blog posts. At any given time the last couple weeks, I've had about 7-10 posts running through my head. Too bad they haven't quite made it down "on paper" yet! I'm sorry to my faithful blog readers for the delay. :) Now you'll get the full (LOOONG) scoop on all my missed Christmas posts!

As weird or tacky as it may be, I'm going to head back about 3 weeks and cover several things I've been wanting to share! Christmastime was indeed as busy as I expected it to be around here! It's amazing to me how many wonderful activities and events the staff has for the precious children and workers here to make their Christmas special. I have a whole new appreciation for the staff here as I watched them tirelessly make December a success for every person involved. Wow!! I have many wonderful memories of the past few weeks....

The day after the progressive dinner (see previous post), we had a Christmas party for the kids in our neighborhood. Sandy and Tammy always have a gathering for these kids and their parents at Christmastime. After sharing a bit about Christmas, they got a "snack" of spaghetti, clementines, and chips. Then they all got to pick one article of clothing, one toy, and received a small bag of groceries. It's neat to see how Sandy and Tammy have reached beyond the walls of ministry at CSC and also look to bless their own needy neighborhood kids at this time of year. It was so fun to see the smiles on all of their faces!

Another event was the gift-wrapping party. The staff gathered at the school and took on the task of wrapping the gifts for all the CSC kids. We are so grateful for gifts from friends of CSC who allow us to bless our kids with some gifts at Christmastime!

What's Christmastime without Christmas cookies??? And what's Christmas cookies at CSC without kids helping??!! Christmas Eve afternoon in the snack room at school was dedicated to cookie-decorating in many shapes and forms! Some kids spent several minutes on one cookie, decorating as though they were going for a million-dollar prize. Others didn't seem to know quite what to do and just smothered the frosting on the cookie and threw on a few sprinkles with no particular rhyme or reason! A regular rotation was in place so all the kids got to help. The cookies were thoroughly enjoyed at Christmas dinner the next evening!

SOMEONE's gotta eat the leftover frosting! :)

The last group of kids that decorated.

Christmas Eve evening brought "gifts from Santa", a long-awaited day for the kids! In true CSC Christmas fashion, Paul Healy had worked up quite the elaborate set of events leading up to the gift-giving. This year it included a (fictional) plot by the Teen Home kids to get all the gifts this year, allowing the Banawa (regular residences) kids no gifts. There were even two Santas on hand, including the CSC-beloved "little person" Remil, who has helped with many CSC events! Some of the Teen Home kids received a little "punishment" for their "plot"....Julieto and Roselyn were thrown in the pool and Maria was dowsed with a bucket of water. In the end though, all the kids received gifts of course. :)

The little elves who pulled in Santa #2

Some of the preschoolers singing us a Christmas song.

Gathered and ready for the big evening!

Santa #2 rolls in!

Quite an eventful evening, trying to determine who the culprits were and who should really get the gifts - the TEEN HOME or the BANAWA kids!

Julieto being thrown in the pool!

It was loads of fun to watch the kids anxiously await for their name, then go up to receive their gift, smile with Santa for a picture, then excitedly rush back to their spot to open their package. Their friends crowded around, almost equally excited about whatever might come tumbling out of the wrapping paper. Eventually, as one-by-one over 80 names were called, there was a good kind of chaos all over the room!! Kids excitedly opening their gifts, trying them out, showing them to friends, oohing and aahing over other kids' gifts, small groups everywhere looking at the new goodies, and even a handful of kids waiting (PLEADING) for their name to be next! A couple of our kids looked a little nervous that maybe their name would never be called!

Ohlendorfs in their awesome Christmas shirts!

The cool thing is.... as I sat back and watched, I didn't see anyone whining or complaining about what they got. Many kids got things that they hadn't written on their "wish list", but they loved everything they got anyway! We can only spend a small fraction on each of our kids compared to many kids around the world. However, I got the idea that our kids were far more grateful than several kids (even adults?) probably were at Christmastime in the States. For most of their lives, these kids never had a Christmas with gifts, and not even really a Christmas worth celebrating in their eyes. They understand what it really means to be grateful....a lesson we can all learn.

After the crazy fun of the gifts, the children went home overly excited and the staff went for a late Christmas Eve dinner at a local restaurant. We had fun reminiscing the events of the evening and the excitement of the children with their gifts.

Sherri came all the way from MN to spend Christmas with us - A promise she made to me right away when I told her I was coming to Cebu for a year!

Christmas Day morning at our house (Sandy, Tammy, me, and guest Sherri) included sleeping in!, a pancakes and bacon breakfast, and some gift exchanging. Then I Skyped with my family as I opened a few little gifts they had sent all the way to Cebu with my friend Sherri! How fun!!!

Later that afternoon, we headed to the shelter, finding the kids all-smiles and fully enjoying their new toys and activities. For Christmas dinner, we had a special candlelight dinner outside with all the CSC kids complete with tablecloths, candles, Christmas centerpieces, quiet Christmas music, and platters of food at each table for a family-style dinner. I sat with Angillo, Sheena, Cyril, Jeffrey, Argei Kem, and Ruth. It was very special and meaningful to have Christmas dinner with these kids, who really have become a part of my family this year. One of the big topics of conversation at our table was how yummy the food was and which foods were our favorites!! We had ham, potatoes, rice (of course!), green bean casserole, mango, pineapple, and Christmas cookies!

Each of the kids got a new book for Christmas!

After a scrumptious dinner, we all packed up and headed over to the Teen Home, where the staff presented the real Christmas story in a live nativity format - complete with a real cow, horse, and sheep! Some parts were planned ahead, some were assigned in the brief moments prior to the start. We were rushing around inside, throwing on costumes as Paul shouted out orders of who was going to be who and where and what to do! I had previous been asked if I would be Mary. Wow, what an honor. I have never been Mary before! I managed to get a blue bedsheet around me and a baby doll in my hands. After Ruth stapled the top of it shut around my neck, I was set to go! :) Before we knew it, we were on our way out to an anxiously-awaiting audience. Paul read the story as we silently acted it out and the angel choir sang songs to go with each part of the story. It was a very cool way to experience the real Christmas story - the true meaning of Christmas. That's another blog...maybe I'll post that later. :)

Live Nativity scene, complete with cow (left), sheep (middle), and horse (right)

Angel choir sang Christmas songs during each part

Wise Ohlendorf men

I'm back there in the middle by the manger

The cow! Almost trampled me when I made my entrance with Joseph!

Christmas evening here was Christmas morning back home in MN. Thanks again to the awesome invention of Skype, I was able to attend part of my family's Christmas at home too, complete with the annual family Christmas picture! It was hard to be away from them for the holidays, but it was a blessing to be able to connect with them as much as I did, thanks to modern technology! I love them very, very, very much!

Oh, but Christmas wasn't over yet!! The day after Christmas, the staff finally was able to take a deep breath and have our own Christmas celebration. We had a yummy dinner of tacos at the Ohlendorfs, then a gift exchange. Everyone did a great job picking gifts for the person's name they had drawn. It was neat to be able to have one last Christmas celebration together as a staff, enjoying the holiday and each other's company after a month of much excitement and hard work.