Wow, can it really be almost Christmas again?
It seems like we just got through celebrating 2012. I guess time really does fly when you’re having so much fun. I have always enjoyed Christmas in Costa Rica. It is a magical time to be here. Being in tourism, Christmas is a very busy time for me. It is considered the “peak” season here not only for the foreign tourists that arrive each year, but also because of all the Ticos that take extended vacations (usually to the beaches) this time of the year with their pockets flush with cash from the “aguinaldo” (the annual legally mandated Christmas bonus that all employers must pay).
Why is Christmas so special in Costa Rica? Well being a predominantly Catholic country, the Costa Ricans celebrate Christmas with an extraordinary intensity. Christmas here is about the kids and children play a special role in all celebrations. There is the festival of lights parade in downtown San Jose with floats that are ornament-ally adorned with brilliant lights. This festival usually draws some 1 million people to the streets. It is quite an event.
In San Jose there is also the festival at Zapote, which is like a state fair back in the states and features all kinds of activities and shows, the highlight of which is the bull run where the people will get into the stadium ring with bulls and be chased around and sometimes brutally gored (sounds like fun, huh?).
The city is always beautifully lit up. There is a spirit of festivity that is in the air and every-one’s mood seems to become a little lighter. During Christmas week, while everyone is at the beach, the traffic in San Jose vanishes and that is always very nice.
But just like in the U.S. the festivities, shopping and gifts have the tendency to distract us from the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place. That is, to celebrate the birthday of the King of Kings. God who became man in the form of Jesus Christ and felt our joy and pain and endured the ultimate sacrifice in order to bring peace on earth and goodwill to men.
Nevertheless, still being a “kid at heart” I thought I would take the liberty of posting my Christmas wish-list for 2013 (this is actually a re-make of a 2008 post…with an updated wish-list, of course)……
1. I wish for 1,000’s of readers of this blog who all become Package Costa Rica customers that make me filthy rich (at least in Costa Rica terms)!
2 I wish that the FARC would lay down their arms and allow Colombia to become the tourism juggernaut that is has the potential to be.
3. I wish that my son would decide to come here and live with me in Costa Rica!
4. I wish that Costa Rica could stay green and gorgeous forever and develop into the number one eco-tourism destination in the world.
6. I wish the criminals and delinquents that roam our streets would get a life and take a break to remember what Christmas is all about.
7. I wish that my blog Revolutionary Misfit would inspire 1,000’s of misfits (like me) around the globe to practice impact mindfulness and make this world a better place…..
Lest We Forget…..
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel–which means “God with us.”
Matthew 1:23 (NIV)
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