Christmas in Costa Rica

We've survived our "first" Christmas in Costa Rica. If perhaps we "thought" these people were crazy before, I can assure you that we now "know" that to be true, for sure. What we learned is that Christmas Eve is the BIG holiday that is celebrated particularly between the hours of 12 and 2 a.m. In Costa Rican tradition you have a big dinner with your family, usually pork as it is a bit more pricey cut of meat and not eaten every day. We ate pork roast around 6 p.m. courtesy of Katherine's cooking, and the entire family with the exception of myself, went to the neighbor's and had pork ribs, fried pork and other various pork dishes around 8:30 p.m. Some time between 10 and midnight the Catholic families usually attend church together and the entire country opens their presents at midnight and lights off fireworks in celebration. It lasted here in our neighborhood until around 2 a.m. We couldn't stay awake until midnight, especially me since having surgery, so our kids wanted to break free from our American tradition of opening presents on Christmas morning. We honored their wishes and in Tico style, they opened their gifts at about 10:30 p.m. and we "heard" they went to bed around 3 a.m. Today, we have spent the day at home reflecting on Christ's birth, not eating a lot, making phone calls to loved ones back home and enjoying being together and centered around the birth of Christ Jesus. We hope you had a blessed holiday.