Christmas was different this year!
Instead of 40+ boxes of decorations, I had two nativity scenes, a Christmas train and a few lights. George took time out from his busy schedule closing out the mission financial records to put together this shelf for me.
I think it looked quite festive!
Rather than a lot of baking for friends and neighbors, I baked a lot of sugar cookies for some very appreciative missionaries.
When I returned from the US in October, I brought back one can of pumpkin but no pie plate so instead of a round pie, we enjoyed a square one. 
The Assistants to the President, who ate Christmas dinner with us, didn’t seem to mind the shape. For Elder Vallejo, it was his first taste of pumpkin pie.
No winter wonderland here!
It is summer with the temperatures and fierce sunshine to prove it.
From exactly midnight until 3:00 a.m. Christmas Eve there were fireworks which definitely added to a 4th of July feel of the high temperatures.
A few things were the same..
Santa made an appearance.
William, our driver is so fun! It takes a special guy to wear a Santa suit in this weather.
He delighted the missionaries we visited that day.
The youth and children at church put on a sweet nativity, which brought back lots of good memories from our years in Barcelona.
Out Bishop invited us to join the ward leaders for a Christmas party at his home. A highlight was a wild White Elephant Gift exchange which they called an American tradition. At first it was quite tame until Elder Lewis decided to steal an already opened gift. Then things got crazy!
What a fun group!
Back at home in the USA, our children and grandchildren enjoyed the holiday.
Scott flew over to Boise and stayed with Matt and Cady.
Our two boys went snowboarding at Brundage.
Mary, Mark, Jackson and Trevor celebrated in Harper’s Ferry.
John, Monica and Isabella didn’t go to Paris. John is a master at AI!
Christmas in Meridian was great for Isabella!
We missed some of our ‘normal’ Christmas activities but embraced the opportunity to celebrate in a new culture, Truly we are so grateful to be here in Piura to commemorate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, the blessings of His atonement and the promise of resurrection and eternal life.
