My Parents Are Aliens!

I am packing for our upcoming move and I have been going through all of the old school records and mementos of my four children. Yesterday, I ran across this short story that Jackie wrote for a creative writing assignment when she was in 7th grade! If you have raised children outside of the US, and especially in Latin America, you will get a chuckle or two out of this! The title is a "play" on the term "alien" used for foreign residents. ( as in illegal alien)

My Parents Are Aliens!

I had often wondered why my parents were so different. Not "different" exactly. I mean, I am different. I have always been different. I don't look like any of the members at my church, or even my friends. I am white, they are dark. I have blond hair, they don't. I have blue eyes, their's are brown.They all knew they are Venezuelan, I wasn't sure what I was!

Was I an American like my parents? Or Venezuelan like everyone else was around me? I can speak both languages, look American, but feel Venezuelan. Or do I feel American? Who knows? I finally settled with being an MK. (missionary kid)

Even though I am different, I am not like my parents. They are REALLY different! For example...holidays! Everyone knows that Independence Day is JULY 5th!! Everyone in Venezuela celebrates Independence Day on July 5th. Not my parents! They wear red, white, and blue, striped hats on July 4th!!!!

"What are you doing?", I would ask.
"It is Independence Day !!" they would shout gleefully!

I gently would remind them Independence day was the day AFTER the fourth. They laughed , and said,
"You are so Venezuelan!" and then they would have a BBQ?!?!?! During rainy season! A BBQ?

Then, as if having my parents running around in Red, White, and Blue, the day BEFORE Independence Day wasn't enough...They would have fireworks! Fireworks are for Christmas Eve and New Years Eve!! Not Independence Day! I just don't understand.

Then there is Thanksgiving. I have lost count of how many times I have tried to explain that to my Venezuelan friends! They had never heard of it. Plus, we ate Pumpkin Pie. The thought of eating pumpkin as something sweet makes me shudder. Pumpkin is a vegetable! For soup! It is NOT a desert!

And then there is Christmas! I have no idea where they get these traditions from. They always say to leave cookies and milk out, which the ants always eat! Then they want to go to bed early on Christmas Eve and get up to open gifts at 5:00 am! They really do! They open gifts at 5:00 am! Don't they know we are supposed to stay up all night on Christmas Eve and open the gifts at mid-night?!?! Why anyone would want to open gifts at 5:00 am is beyond me!

Instead of eating hallacas for supper on Christmas Eve, they have turkey for lunch the next day! Only they call it dinner, Christmas Dinner. If they have to go out and buy the turkey live, it is always turkey!

They talk about, "White Christmases". I have yet to figure out what that means and"caroling".
I made a great mistake one year! I asked what "caroling" was. They insisted they would show me. Then we went around my neighborhood and sang songs! By the time we got back, I was dripping with sweat and wanted an ice cold coke! I sat and listened to the Christmas Eve fireworks going off all around us in the hot December air. My parents sat and talked about how nice it would be to sit by a fire and drink Hot Cocoa!!! HUH??? Why would you sit by a hot fire and drink Hot Cocoa during one of the hottest months of the year?!?! I decided not to ask.

Yes, my parents certainly are one of a kind. And they still are. But now I know why! While looking at their passports one day, I found out that they are ...

ALIENS!!!!

It is shocking...but true!
At least now I have an explanation for the turkey, the striped hats, and caroling!

I wonder...what does my passport say inside it?

AARRGGHH!!!!!!

I am an ALIEN, too!!!