Yesterday , 8th December, was the Feast of the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, which occurs nine months before we celebrate the birthday of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. We call Mary IMMACULATE because we think of her as being without sin. We are all born into a world where there is sin. At some point in the history of the world somebody committed the first sin. The Bible puts the idea into a story -the story of Adam and Eve. Adama means 'from the soil' and we get the name Adam from that. We are all made of soil; we all eat the things that grow from the soil.

When we are born, we have done nothing wrong, but we say we are born into sin because sin already exists in the world. We have no blame ourselves. Then at some time in each of our lives, we do something wrong, knowing about it, for the first time.
When we think of Mary, though, because God chose her to give birth to Jesus, the Son of God, we know she must have been a good woman and she never committed a sin of her own. So we call her IMMACULATE.

On the 8th December, we think of the beginnings of her life in her mother's womb.

On our journey through Advent, this week, we looked at how people celebrate Christmas in South America,.

In Rio, Summer begins just before Christmas Eve. Our beach scene shows this.

In Columbia, as in most countries, Christmas is a time for family get-togethers- going to church and sharing a meal. Christmas day is the first day of celebrations , with lots of parades such as a Classic Car show, Cabellero Horse Parade and a Parade of Flowers.