Although we truly missed spending the holiday season with our family and friends, we did just celebrate a very memorable Christmas here in La Cruz.

On December 23 about 20 people gathered at one of the local restaurants (Philo’s) to put together gift bags for the children of the village. Contributions were so generous that we were able to put together 600 gift bags, each containing a big gift (soccer ball or doll, etc.), a small gift, coloring book and crayons, balloons, and candy. When I went back to the boat that afternoon I was so excited in anticipation of watching Santa hand out the gifts on Christmas.

On Christmas day we attended a potluck at the restaurant sponsoring the day’s events. They supplied the turkeys and mashed potatoes and the rest of the attendees brought the sides and desserts. After the dinner about two dozen of the children put on a Christmas play, “Los Posadas”, the story of Joseph’s and Mary’s search for lodging. Although the children spoke Spanish, their teacher interpreted the entire play. They were so dang cute.

After the play the children formed two long lines down the street to await their visit to Santa. What a blessing to see the joy on each of their little faces as they received their presents. The most prized gifts seemed to be the soccer balls. I think they gave out over 100 of them.

In the end over 400 children received gifts. The remaining 200 gift bags were donated to an orphanage in Punta de Mita and to the “Children of the Dump” in Puerto Vallarta. The whole experience was such blessings. We have much to be thankful for.

One New Year’s Eve Rich and I attended a dinner at the yacht club, but ended up petering out before the fireworks at midnight. It was a great dinner with many of our new friends in attendance.

Well, that’s all for now. We’ll keep in touch.