Esperanza y enseñanza: We Wish You A Merry Christmas

‘Tis the season- I love Christmas time, not just Christmas day, but the preparations before as well. It is always hard to be away from home this time of year… be forewarned, next year I will probably be extra-Christmassy to make up for it! But of course Christmas is here too. (Although in the middle of a bright sunny afternoon, it doesn’t seem especially Christmassy.)

For the last few weeks we have been getting ready for Christmas. This Friday we will have a Christmas dinner with patronato and the students’ parents. In preparation for this we are rehearsing some Christmas songs! This has been a lot of fun. One of the students brought in a keyboard for us to borrow. Just being able to play and sing is such a blessing for me! We are singing two songs in Spanish and one in English. It’s been interesting working with everyone as most of them are not really used to singing… or they’re more used to the make-a-joyful-noise kind of singing that tends to have an extremely limited vocal range. So, let’s just say that rehearsal is needed. :) And one song we are even singing with parts. If you’re thinking that that sounds overly ambitious for a group of students who don’t read music, I would agree. It was Agustin’s idea- haha. But actually the boys who are singing tenor and the girls who are singing alto are able to sing those parts better than they can the melody. Either way we are making a joyful noise, and hopefully working its way towards being musical.

I was surprised by how excited the students were to sing something in English. The song we chose is We Wish You a Merry Christmas, which as you know, is quite catchy and I love hearing people singing it throughout the day! Also, having the keyboard attracts plenty of curiosity and there are now a few girls who can play part of Jingle Bells and one who plays We Wish You a Merry Christmas. No wonder it’s stuck in everyone’s heads! Have I mentioned how much I love having music in the house?!

Besides singing, the house is decorated, complete with a Christmas tree. In the hills of Oaxaca, there are trees, it’s not just cactus! The most common is ocote, which looks like a pine to me. But there is also a type of cedar, and that is what we went in search of. I went with one of students in search of a perfect Christmas tree armed with… a machete. This brought me no end of joy, knowing that we would be chopping down a tree with a machete. However, I didn’t say anything, knowing that no one else here would think that it was funny. What else would they use? Anyways, we went up the hill hoping to find more cedar trees, and found one just as the sun was beginning to set. Actually it was a pretty tall tree, so Isai scurried up the tree and hacked off the top.

We returned triumphantly and gathered everyone to decorate. I was hoping for a festive atmosphere and I brought my laptop down to play some Christmas music. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to add Christmas music, and my list ended fairly quickly. I played some English music which to me felt both homey and somehow Christmassy. Eventually, I changed it to Spanish music- and one girl promptly exclaimed, “Ah, I’m back in my own world!” A big thanks to my students who allowed me to be in “my world” for a little while.