Available now for 25% off normal price during pre-launch - our new ebook Christmas in Guatemala 101: Traditions, Fun Activities, and Recipes for an Authentic Guatemalan Christmas
This ebook offers 40 pages of specific family-friendly information about the Christmas season in Guatemala. In addition, there are recipes and fun crafts for kids. Also included (and this perhaps the best part!) are two bonuses: a bilingual cookbook of over 40 recipes for tamales from all regions of Guatemala, and over 50 Guatemalan Christmas coloring pages - fun for classes and kids in general.
Click to find out more about Christmas in Guatemala 101 now!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
50 Shutterfly Christmas Cards
I was excited to hear about Shutterfly's newest promotion, allowing bloggers to blog about their cards for 50 free cards. They have a nice variety (New Year's cards for those who do not celebrate Christmas.) Since we are in Guatemala, winning things free online that can be shipped to one of our parent's houses is the way to go. From there, we can do our thing when we visit in December. I love that I can customize right from Guatemala before sending it off. And... photo cards are the best!
I like the way that this one is easy to save as a not-so-Christmassy keepsake.
And they way this one is square and collaged.
But I think this one is my favorite. It's focus isn't seasonal, and I like the layout. It has a lot of space to include cool Guatemalan pictures from this year for our families to have a neat keepsake of us from our life in Guatemala.
I like the way that this one is easy to save as a not-so-Christmassy keepsake.
And they way this one is square and collaged.
But I think this one is my favorite. It's focus isn't seasonal, and I like the layout. It has a lot of space to include cool Guatemalan pictures from this year for our families to have a neat keepsake of us from our life in Guatemala.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Reflections on Christmas in a "foreign" country
As I'm sitting in my living room in Guatemala City on a quiet Sunday afternoon in early November, listening to a somewhat drunk man outside doing covers of popular Latin pop songs, including "Feliz Navidad," it hits me again.
I live in a "foreign" country.
But do I?
Guatemala is foreign in the sense that life is different, the geography is different, people are different. Different than what should be considered normal, by anyone that I grew up with, and maybe by myself, too.
But the reality is that it's not really "foreign" to me anymore. Oh, it's different, and frustrating, and all of those other things. In spite all that, it's what I call "home" for now. The crazy driving, the loong waits everywhere, the fact that no one is in a hurry (unless they're driving!) - that's all normal to me now.
There are only a few reasons that I can feel this way, though. We speak Spanish, we enjoy the food (well, to some extent; Guatemalan tortillas still don't sit too well with me), and we enjoy meeting new people. I suppose if any of that were different, Guatemala would seem more "foreign."
This year will be different, though. Last year, we spent Christmas with just our little 3-person family alone in Guatemala, and we struggled to find our own traditions, since every other time we'd been with family in the USA. This year, we've decided to visit the US and enjoy the time with our extended family, since that's the main time everyone is guaranteed to be within arm-wrestling distance :D
Even though we won't be in Guatemala for Christmas, that doesn't mean that we won't be celebrating Christmas semi-Chapin style! We've got a lot planned before we go, including a trip to El Salvador over Thanksgiving weekend. I've been burning the midnight oil getting ready for the launch of our "Christmas in Guatemala 101" ebook - stay tuned for more details on that later this week!
I live in a "foreign" country.
But do I?
Guatemala is foreign in the sense that life is different, the geography is different, people are different. Different than what should be considered normal, by anyone that I grew up with, and maybe by myself, too.
But the reality is that it's not really "foreign" to me anymore. Oh, it's different, and frustrating, and all of those other things. In spite all that, it's what I call "home" for now. The crazy driving, the loong waits everywhere, the fact that no one is in a hurry (unless they're driving!) - that's all normal to me now.
There are only a few reasons that I can feel this way, though. We speak Spanish, we enjoy the food (well, to some extent; Guatemalan tortillas still don't sit too well with me), and we enjoy meeting new people. I suppose if any of that were different, Guatemala would seem more "foreign."
This year will be different, though. Last year, we spent Christmas with just our little 3-person family alone in Guatemala, and we struggled to find our own traditions, since every other time we'd been with family in the USA. This year, we've decided to visit the US and enjoy the time with our extended family, since that's the main time everyone is guaranteed to be within arm-wrestling distance :D
Even though we won't be in Guatemala for Christmas, that doesn't mean that we won't be celebrating Christmas semi-Chapin style! We've got a lot planned before we go, including a trip to El Salvador over Thanksgiving weekend. I've been burning the midnight oil getting ready for the launch of our "Christmas in Guatemala 101" ebook - stay tuned for more details on that later this week!
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