Five years ago, a wise foreign service wife gave all of us 20 or so newbies at the bus stop in Falls Church some good advice. Always remember the bus driver at Christmas. (Or Ramadan, or whatever.) These are the people looking out for your kids. I DO follow that advice, but I feel like the stars have to align for it to actually happen. In Oman, the boys made bags of jelly beans and I think I gave them money. This year, my Spanish teacher explained the Christmas Lottery, and our school was selling the tickets, so I bought some. The whole school has the same number, so if one person wins, everyone wins. The prizes are not that big and there are lots of little prizes.
My Spanish teacher made it sound very appealing. The drawing is on the 22nd of December and it goes on for hours. They have kids singing out the numbers as they draw them out. In her childhood memories, the lottery was the start of the Christmas season. The singing was on in the background and that was the day that they decorated the house. Here the season runs from the 22nd through Three Kings Day (Epiphany, technically) on January 6th.
The advertising for the lottery is pretty aggressive. Click on this link to see the announcement, which is generating lots of parodies. Every American will recognize the tune. Send me a comment when you figure it out!
I was in fits yesterday about these little gifts! First I have to have a card to put it in. The ones I bought at the Chino (overpriced dollar stores manned by Chinese people) had literal footprints inside, as if they had been dropped and stepped on. I did a yoga exhale and used it anyway. Then I have to have some cookies to go with it, so I had the cookie exchange, which I wanted to do anyway. It was lovely, but I found out some things about the hazing at school that broke my heart, so that made the rest of the day like pushing through molasses. Nothing too bad, but your heart aches for the kids who are suffering. Please pray, for my kids and for Joaquín who is also new this year. Back to gifts, I then have to make do with some random bag, because the bus monitor can't just put a plate of cookies on her desk like the guard can, and the three guards are not there at the same time, and what are their names after all? How on earth am I going to pull this off?
I did, and they were all happy and grateful, of course.
Here's the kind of gift I like. Wyatt already ate his kale, and on his own, voluntarily, he piled up his bread with more of it. Kids who like vegetables are a wonderful gift.
What do you think? Do you really LIKE giving gifts?
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