Why do Christmas songs sound like Funeral marches?

So if you're wondering, YES I did make it back to the States... and since I've been here I've discovered that my Latin influence runs deeper that I thought.
Because it is Christmas time, I've already heard about a million and one Christmas carols and I thought to myself the other day, WHY do a lot of the carols sound so sad and depressing. I mean, think about it... start singing some Christmas songs in your head. It came upon a Midnight Clear... What Child is This... and finally Silent Night. And I kinda laughed when I thought about how "Silent" that "Night" actually was... let's see, we have a virgin mother giving birth in AWFUL conditions, barn yard animals, a TON of people in the small village of Bethlehem, shepherds, a HOST of angels singing... does that night sounding silent to you? It sounds like a Loja FIESTA to me!!
And as I thought about a Latin fiesta, I thought now THAT is what our Christmas carols should sound like. I'm convinced that the angels singing sounded more like salsa music than opera!
With all that said, I realized that sometimes I forget how truly exciting the birth of Christ was (and is). This is not something to solemnly speak words to, it is something to yell from the rooftop: "MY SAVIOR IS BORN!!!"
So how silent will this night be? It depends on how loud you proclaim the Savior's birth.

End of the first year...

As I sit in the Quito airport waiting for my flight back to the States, I think back on the past year and all that God has done. It truly blows my mind.
God has given me to the opportunity to share Jesus, to make friends, to learn Spanish and to live as a Lojana. As I left Loja for "home," I felt like I was leaving my home, my family and my life to come "home" to my home, my family and my life. I cannot explain to you the way my heart is broken to leave these people (even if just for a month!) and how my heart is bursting with joy to see everyone in the States.
Yesterday my friend grabbed my hand and said, "You have changed my life, seriously," and I just wanted to burst into tears, fall on my knees and thanks Jesus for this opportunity to serve these beautiful people. May GOD receive all the glory for the things that have happened this year and may HE receive the glory for what WILL happen this next year.
Thank you for walking with me this year, praying for me, and keeping up with my funny, tearful and crazy stories.

Tigrillo....

So my friends have been bugging me for about a month to go and eat “tigrillo” with them. They have been trying to convince me that tigrillo is a small “tigre” (tiger). I did not believe them, not for a single second, UNTIL my friend’s dad wrote her an email and said that when he put that word through a translator, that it came up with this small cat.
SOOOO I was convinced that we were going to eat this small cat thing. I figured, I’ve eaten everything else, why not?
We get to the restaurant and my friend, Paul says to me, “You have to tell them what part of the tigrillo you want… head, heart, legs.” And I figured legs sounded safe to me. The lady came up to take our order and Paul “Un tigrillo entero” (the whole thing) and I thought to myself I don’t want the whole thing, so I said, “Un medio… solo las piernas.” At that moment, my friends DIED laughing as the woman gave me the weirdest look I’ve ever received. I suddenly realized that they had been playing a joke on me the whole time and later found out that tigrillo is just banana, eggs and cheese. I still have no clue why they call it tigrillo, but my friends sure got me that day! (Payback is the picture that I have just posted... haha)