On Saturday, December 10th, just a little over a week ago, we celebrated a highly-anticipated and exciting annual tradition here in the Hondu: Cena Navideña. At both the Santa Monica Bilingual School and the San Jeronimo Bilingual School, children, parents, and teachers alike flocked to the school grounds on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, dressed in their Christmas best to celebrate the holiday season. At SJBS, there was great food (i.e. meat products!!!!!!), song and dance numbers performed by every grade, and even a clown who made balloon animals. And at SMBS, the school celebrated its first ever Cena Navideña! All the SMBS teachers worked so hard to organize everything, and the end result was absolutely amazing. Here are some photos from the SMBS’s first annual Cena!
For us at SJBS, it all began at 9 a.m. in the SJBS auditorio. There we were, ready to hang up all sorts of decorations and fashion all sorts of paper chains especially for the event. Everything was going great until we realized that the power had gone out … and that it would stay out until 4 p.m. (as part of a rare, scheduled power outage). But never fear! By this point we have become well-adapted to surprise power outages. The only fear was that us girls would not be able straighten our hair for the occasion, given that the event began at 4. Thankfully, however, there was a Christmas miracle and the hair-straightening crisis was averted: the power came back on about an hour earlier than expected.
As a first-time Cena Navideña-er, I did not know what to expect. All I knew was that the kids at SJBS had been talking about it since literally September. It was clear that this event was a highlight of the school year. The night was a complete success, with musical numbers ranging from “Don’t Stop Believing’” to “Santa Claus is Coming to SJBS”. As teachers, we also got to partake in the fun: we performed our own version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” that starred our beloved Miss Danelia and 12 traditionally Honduran recuerdos.
Check out some photos of the day’s events!
