So it's December 27. Christmas is officially over for another year and we're alternating between crazy tired, cranky "when can normal life resume?" and post-Christmas happy contented little boys who play for hours on end with their new treasures.
One of the hard parts about life here around the holidays is trying to find the balance between celebrating our own American traditions and embracing the traditions and culture around us - which usually means forgoing our traditions. For the past few years, I'll admit - we've shut our curtains, locked our doors and tried to stay in a tiny American cocoon for Christmas week. But the kids are getting older and we're getting more involved in our local church, so we decided this year we would jump in and celebrate with our national brothers and sisters.
So Christmas Eve found us at church. The service was to start at 5 pm, but knowing the local views on time, we planned to leave our house at 5.... which still put us at the church before the pastors showed up! :) By the time the service started, the boys were a bit on meltdown - we were supposed to eat after the service, but since it didn't start til almost 7, we were all starving and had already raided the snacks I had packed. :)
The kids had a service at the same time the adults did. I'm not quite sure what happened in the adult service, but I can tell you there were about 150 little kids crammed in a tiny room and the speaker told the story of Herod chasing Baby Jesus and trying to kill Him! There were no angels or shepherds guarding their flocks; no Baby in the manger. Mary and Joseph were hiding Jesus, running from soldiers, scared to death. Every other word was "murder," "death," or "die." The kids' eyes were wide and horrified. You know, I don't think it really put anyone in a Christmas mood. :) I took the liberty of "translating" the story a bit differently for the boys - threw in the manger and animals and hay and left out "kill" and "die."
After the Bible story we had Birthday Cake for Jesus... I think. It was a huge white frosting tiered thing... similar to a wedding cake.... with Disney princess figurines all over it. I kid you not. There was Snow White and Sleeping Beauty and a few others I didn't recognize because we don't do princesses in our house. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. We sang their version of "Happy Birthday" to Jesus but the words translate somewhat "May you live long this year" which I also didn't think was real appropriate to sing to an Eternal God, but I figure He got the gist. :)
The evening wasn't a total bust though. There were snacks for the boys and they left happy. :) We rushed through baths and threw down a piece of pizza and tried to get them in bed before 9.... so much for "early to bed so Santa can come"!!!
Christmas Day we had a beautiful day at home. I was so thankful. The boys were so excited about all their presents... very simple, small stuff - I think they each had about 5 or 6 things to open, so it didn't take us too long, but was so much fun. We didn't have a present for Ezra so Brant made a chalkboard - cut a thin piece of plywood and painted it with chalkboard paint and then cut a rag for an eraser and got a box of chalk. I think the whole project cost us about $2. He LOVED it. He was screaming so excited drawing and erasing as fast as he could - drawing and erasing, drawing and erasing. Both Brant and I almost cried - it was one of those "perfect gift" moments and was so much fun to see him so excited.
Gift giving is a very touchy subject among missionaries. We are very blessed to have family and friends who send us packages so the boys get import toys for presents and we usually have candy canes and other seasonal treats. But many of our friends don't get presents and packages from out of country, so we have to be very careful when talking with our friends. So right before our friends came for dinner Christmas Day evening, the boys packed up their new toys and put them away.... we celebrated in the evening with a new family from another mission organization. Was fun in a "nice to meet you; have a Merry Christmas" kind of way. :):)
Was such a fun day and we are so blessed to have healthy kids, a nice home, fun presents, and friends to enjoy life with. Very blessed. We all went to bed happy and slept well.
Monday is "Christmas Day 2." I kid you not. It says that on the calendar and is an official holiday. Actually not a bad idea, though I'm not sure it would fly in America with all the after Christmas sales starting in earnest. :) On "Christmas Day 2" you spend the day going around town visiting friends and associates. Every house is EXACTLY the same... really no creativity at all going on here. The kids are given Strawberry Fanta to drink. The adults are served Coke. Room temperature. There are little round plastic boxes of store bought cookies on a table in the middle of the room and you have to eat at least one of each kind. No one has ovens here and buying store bought cookies is a sign of wealth, so even if you are starving the rest of the year, you serve store bought cookies - the wealthier the house, the more containers of cookies. You stay for an hour at each house; eat cookies, drink Coke, chit chat. Then the boys are given a treat to take on the road and you start all over at the next house. Needless to say, we were so sick by the end of the day! But the boys were in heaven... or a sugar induced high, I'm not quite sure which. :)
Again, this was the first year we spent the day visiting. It actually was quite fun and a good reminder that we have built some good relationships with nationals. Most of the people we visited aren't believers and so good to be able to deepen relationships and share our life with them. We visited some people from our old neighborhood and Penny's family and took bags of food - oil, salt, powdered milk, bread, etc.... which is totally not cultural at all, but something we wanted to do to bless them.
To top it all off, today was a wedding! (Yes, we are totally exhausted!) Our pastor at our national church got married... but that is a whole other story in itself! Think bride prices and sermons on why women are worth more than outboard motors... Maybe I'll get around to telling it someday when I stop laughing. :)
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
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