Thanks Dotsie. Things have slowed down significantly so far this morning, which is a relief!

Regarding Cuba, we know everyone that we bring the stuff to. We have a list of the hotel staff (they're the same people every year), and our friends in the village. We shop all year to find a special little gift for each person on the list. Last year, though, we found that it's better to give most of the women in the village the same thing. We had given small manicure sets to some, and the others were clearly envious. So we had enough back at the hotel to make sure that every woman in that circle of friends had one. This year, we brought them all small sewing kits. We bring larger, more specific items to the core family that we've adopted, things we know they need, and always something extra-special and pretty for the matriarch of the family.

It's fun, it does bring pleasure, but they give back. They don't have material things to give, but they give so much love and care and laughter...and they help me with my Spanish. One family makes us homemade lobster pizza, another family makes us a beautiful lobster dinner, another gives me a good haircut every year...others let us use their indoor toilets while we're in the village.

Just to illustrate their kindness and love, my hubby's brother, Arthur, was the one who first found the village and adopted the family close to 20 years ago. A few years ago, they were all at the house in the village. We didn't know it then, but it would be Arthur's last year there because he had a stroke later that year and then died not long afterward. But at the village, he didn't make it to the outhouse in time. Without being graphic, it was explosive. Those women, every women including the young girls, gently undressed him, bathed him, dressed him in whatever clothes they could scrounge from their own menfolk, washed and ironed his clothes...all with great tenderness and pure love. It's one of the reasons we are so devoted to them...Arthur's brothers and family here will never forget that kindness they showed to their brother.