Christmas Party at the Centre!

Ho, ho ho!  Santa came early to Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre!

Laura Connelly and Natalie Lanni, our faithful volunteers from Florida who come every couple of months, came with two other frequent volunteers from their church to host a holiday party at the Centre.  This was no ordinary Centre party!  Two months ago, Laura made sure to get a wished-for gift request from every child and staff member!  Then she and her team in Florida went to work, filling the wish list and shipping it to Belize.  When Laura and team arrived on Wednesday, they began wrapping the gifts, getting ready for Santa's arrival on Saturday.  Meanwhile, they also had prepared a performance of the Christmas story, bringing costumes for Joseph and Mary, the Wise Men and the Angels.  Rehearsals began on Thursday!  

Yesterday was the big event!  Christmas morning magnified! The Christmas Story was presented first, followed by a dance choreographed by a group of four girls.  Then the sign language teacher, with a group of children with whom she has been working, signed a lovely song!  

  

At the end of the performance, Santa arrived!  (We decided that he had walked, due to a strike by the reindeer, as he lost a lot of weight on his journey!!!)  Each child was called to come up and receive a gift, the one they had requested, from Santa:  Jordan sandals, remote control cars, several baby dolls, MP3 players!  The importance of each child having a gift with his or her name on it cannot be underestimated.  One little girl, the day before the event, asked:  "Is my name going to be on my gift?"  These children receive lots of gifts at Christmas, but seldom one that is personalized.  Usually it is "girl under five" or "boy over twelve."  To have a gift which they asked for and with their name on it was most special! Then cupcakes and ice cream were served, and the staff received their requested gifts:  big pots for cooking rice, tablets, DVD players, jewelry and phones!  

Chaos reigned as children put batteries in and played with their toys!  Additionally, there was a crew working on the new, cement wall that is being constructed at the back property line of the Centre!  They got in on the fun, since they had tools to unscrew modules needing batteries!  And of course, they had to have cupcakes!  (A little disruptive was the large truck arriving to deliver the rice and beans and flour, etc. for the week!)  What a lot of fun everyone had!

Earlier in the week, Dave took an afternoon off, and we drove to the Orange Gallery in Cayo.  I love that gift shop, filled with beautiful wood pieces and art!  We ate lunch at the Gallery's cafe, which was wonderful.  Just being out in the country, in the hills in the mist, was heavenly!  

On the flying front, Dave flew less in November than in any other month.  He seems to be making up for it now...9 flights in 3 days! One morning, he was called early.  Upon arriving at the airport, he found that high tide had spread debris across the run way.  A few guys with brooms were slowly clearing the runway.  Dave thought the patient might get critical at the pace they were going!  He took the push broom from the hangar and headed out to help them. Within a few minutes he had cleared enough space that he thought he could get off the ground.  As he took off, they workers moved off the runway.  The control tower at the International Airport said:  "I thought the runway was closed at Municipal!"  Dave had to explain how he managed to get off the ground.  When he returned after a short flight to San Pedro, he informed International that he'd do a low fly-by to check on the runway condition before landing, as International was still reporting that the airport was closed.  The workers, still sweeping, moved off of the runway when Dave flew overhead, and he landed safely with the patient!  Such is life in Belize!