Joyeux Noel!
I know I’m really late in wishing you a Merry Christmas, but it was definitely a unique day to remember.
We brought the day in with a late night/early morning church service. It began around 10pm Christmas Eve and featured lots of dancing. We were able to ring in the day with some American Christmas carols at midnight, and my teammate Caleb managed to stay awake long enough to give a sermon at 12:30 am. The churchmembers were not quite so alert, and two men with long sticks had to walk around and poke people who were nodding off.
Service ended at 1am, when we were able to go to bed and thankfully sleep in. Overnight, “Santa” came, and brought all the good little World Racers candy bars. They looked suspiciously like the candy bars we saw at the supermarket the day before, but hey, who am I to rain on the festivities? And yes, it would be rain, not snow. Our Christmas Day featured weather in the upper 80’s.
Regardless, we woke up and opened our candy bars (and I have to say, my first Twix in several months did not disappoint me). We relaxed for the morning, and then it was time for our celebration meal.
Our Christmas feast consisted of rice, cassava, cabbage, squash, chicken, and goat, washed down by a can of Fanta orange soda. Not quite your typical Christmas fare, but I enjoyed it and was quite thankful for it.
After our meal, we went back to church for more dancing, preaching, and just generally celebrating the true reason for the Christmas season (Spoiler alert: That would be Jesus).
After church (and about 73 pictures with various people) we ate another small meal, and finished the day off with some hot chocolate while watching Les Miserables.
So all in all, the day looked nothing like a “normal” Christmas celebration. There were no decorations, no tree, no stockings. The only gift I opened was a 75 cent candy bar, and I’ll most likely never eat cassava or goat for Christmas dinner again. But this Christmas had its focus squarely where it should always be, on a child in a manger who became an adult on a cross for our sake.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
