In December, before heading to San Jose for Christmas, we hosted 30 kids and seven mothers from the Mai Tam shelter. This is the same group we hosted in September for the mid-Autumn festival. Most of them are afflicted with HIV/AIDS. To say that we had a blast would be an understatement. It was a collective effort by so many people: Martin's staff hired the entertainment, which included Santa Claus, a magician, a "hula-hoop" performer and a juggler; a local ice cream vendor Sonia approached provided LOTS of free ice cream; friends and colleagues donated gifts and their time; and our amazing cook, Co Hanh, cooked a bunch of finger foods! The highlight was when the kids came and sat on Santa's lap (a colleague from the consulate)  to receive a gift specially prepared for them. It was such a blessing for us to have the privilege of hosting these kids at our house. One funny story (which is a vignette of how these things usually go): one of the kids was going around with a straw in hand drinking or sampling from every soda can that was laying around.