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You might not know that Amalio is a campesino... a farm boy from a small campo on the north coast of the island. his dad works as a landscaper and also owns a fair number of cows. they have land with coconut trees, bananas, mangoes and the typical dominican viveres - starches like potatoes and casava and a ton of other roots that i wouldn't know how to translate if i tried.

he made his way to santiago through the help of what he calls his patrones or benefactors. one of eight children - the first (and one of two) of the kids to graduate high school - amalio i guess showed potential for something. he's a hardworking guy and these patrones saw it. they pulled him out of the campo, let him live in their house, gave him a job working in the busstation they were (and are) the managers of and paid for his college.

he lived with this family for six years before we got married and they really are like his family. we try to visit, but schedules conflict and its often difficult. every christmas they put up their christmas village - and in order not to miss it this year, we headed over to their house tonight to visit and see the display.

Samil loved it. seriously. he was in awe. with the blinking lights and moving parts and the music he just couldn't keep his eyes off it.

my favorite part is their christmas tree. it's REAL! it's very fancy - not something i'd have in my house but in their sala it looks exquisite.

tomorrow samil and i head to philadelphia for three weeks. i'm really excited for the trip but i know amalio will miss us. we've got some running around to do in the morning but by 6:30 tomorrow night, we'll be back in the cold and ready to meet the family!