Christmas Mustaches, Brothers Shea, Thorny Trees

Happy Christmas!
The jolliest of greetings to you from Belize good friends. I hope all is well this holiday season and the fatted calf has been consumed and now you are putting on a good imitation. Here in PG, we have a surplus of cookies, cake, and candy, and not much else. Greg and I just split a bag of goldfish and a thing of double stuff Oreos for lunch. Mmmmm.

Much has happened since the last blog of mine. Including....

Jeremy starring as Santa in the Punta Gorda Christmas Parade, as well as at the St. Peter Claver School Pageant. Now, I'm sure some of you recall my previous roles as Santa. Those were fine. A big suit and beard go well together in the winter. Not so in Belize. After the pageant, which lasted for many hours, I lost perhaps five pounds in sweat. The suit took days to dry. It was horrible. Never do that again, Jeremy. Never. Also, since I was without paint for the beard, I used flour. A kid touched it and asked if it was my magic dust. I said yes.

HoHoHoHoHo!


Matthew Shea, the brother of Jeremy Shea (me) came to visit! It was quite glorious. His flight was cancelled (darn American airlines) coming down, but we were still left with a solid five days. Activities included sitting on buses for many hours, cooking lobster, eating, exploring caves, learning about the crystal skull, and hanging out.

Brother Matt at some Mayan ruins.


Also included in the visitor excitement was (and still remains) the family of Al. The Schommer clan has been camping out (not literally, too many mosquitoes) in PG for about a week. It has been swell and we enjoy having them around. We had a big Christmas Eve dinner, then a glorious brunch on Christmas day. Many pounds have been added this past week.

Greg cutting up the pork dinner.


John making some gravy for the Christmas meal.


I had a mustache! It was the greatest thing I've ever done.

The Greatest Mustache Ever


Christmas Happened!!!

Yes, that is an angel, Joseph, Mary, and supporting nativity cast at Christmas Eve Mass.


Thorny Christmas Tree.


Christmas Morning.



We ate iguana! This is the meat, the eggs, and rice and beans. Tasty.


Guatemala across the street.



Freshly shaved face of me.


That's all folks. I might get sued by Warner Bros. for writing that. Ah well.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.