December 24th and 25th
Saturday, December 27th, 2008 | Uncategorized
This is what my new nativity set looks like. I like it a lot!!
Christmas Eve started with a church service that had a loss of power, which was quite fitting in some ways because this being a Christmas Eve service, we all had candles. So we lit them early, listened to the Christmas story by candlelight and sang Christmas carols acoustically. I was surprised at how much this service reminded me of something in the states and how much I’m just not used to this style of doing church anymore. I like swaying and clapping my hands more than sitting so solemnly. Then I had pizza with my friends and opened an unexpected gift from a friend of mine.
In general, Ethiopians have been really sweet about helping me celebrate my Christmas since theirs isn’t until January 7th (Orthodox Christmas). I have received many text messages wishing me a Merry Christmas and questions of “How was your Christmas??” over and over again. I really appreciate the value of kindness in this culture! It is wonderful!!
I had a really great Christmas, better than I was expecting. C. and I started off the day opening our few gifts from Santa by the tree and having my traditional Christmas breakfast of rice pudding. Then we had some coffee and hot chocolate and did some last minute shopping and headed to our friend’s house for lunch. Once there we did a white elephant gift exchange, had some delicious food, chatted with our friends and played with the cute kids there. One of the kids even made up a song for us and somehow put the whole gospel into it. It was just what we all needed to hear!
In the evening I went to yet another friend’s and to my surprise I got to play the piano with a violist and a violinist. What a treat! The music was beautiful, the company was great and so was the food!
I never expected Christmas away from home and family to be this good. Thanks for your prayers!!
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