Decorating and the annual bribes....

The first Christmas we were in the house, my parents came to visit the end of November. They didn't stay for Christmas, but they were here for the all important Christmas decorating. If you know my family at all, you know my mom (and the rest of us) love Christmas! It's always been an big part of my family's traditions. I always laugh that our house looks like Santa Claus exploded.

So when we opened the house, it was important to me that we establish some family tradition. Christmas became the big one. Mom, Dad and I hit up the big American store and did our part for the Bolivian economy. A new tree...lots of decorations...greenery to hang, well, everywhere. And lights....lots and lots of lights. My dad just waited patiently by the till with his credit card. =) There were tools there, so he was happy.

That was fifteen years ago and we still use the greenery and a lot of the decorations. The tree got replaced because it broke in the middle and had a distinctive lean half way up. Bolivian Christmas lights don't survive more than two seasons, so they've been replaced as well.

But the house still looks...well, like Santa Claus blew up. The guys mostly get into it, although the annual bribe of pizza goes a long ways. But one year they made a Christmas tree sign that had all of our names on it (they even dipped the dogs' feet into paint to put their paw prints on it). This year they made a star out of lights and stuck it on a pole (poles) so high that the entire neighbourhood could see it.

I didn't take quite as many pictures as I sometimes do. But I'll supplement that with a few fun ones from years gone by. =)