Christmas 2007

I had a great Christmas. There is no doubt that it was hard being away from family and friends, but the Lord definitely blessed me and helped me to have a great day. The day began with presents from home. My family spoiled me by sending 5 packages! It was hard, but I waited until Christmas day to open them. I got some wonderful things. And I went from not being able to find a stocking in South Africa to having 3 stockings (2 imported from the US). It was great to have things from home to open on Christmas morning. I’m wearing some of my new clothes right now.

After I opened my presents, I went to church. We had a very casual service with classic Christmas songs. 4 of the girls from the youth group sang "Mary Did You Know?" They did a great job!

After church I went home for a brief break. I got the chance to call my Mom and talk to her on Christmas! And then we headed to Peter and Yvonne's house. We had a four course meal for lunch. This sounds very formal and fancy, but things were very relaxed. We ate at tables out on the patio. It was a bit over cast so we didn’t have to worry about it being too hot. The weather made it very comfortable to eat outside. There were about 20 people at lunch. We took about 3 hours to eat lunch. Between each course there were things to do. We took a break to open crackers (paper tubes with prizes inside that you pull and pop open). One set of crackers had whistles inside. Each whistle had a different number (note), and one cracker had a sheet of music and a 'baton' for the conductor. So we attempted to play Christmas songs with our whistles. It was all quite fun!

A few people went swimming, but the day was so overcast, that I didn’t hop in the pool. It would have been far too cold! Instead of swimming, I went inside and called home. I called Grandma's house and got passed around from one person to another. It was great to get to talk to everyone! I also called Paige's house and got passed around her family as well. It was fantastic to get to hear from people at home. I got a little choked up, but my roommate Carol commented "You don’t look like you've been blubbering, so it must have been a good phone call."

Peter and Yvonne gave us gifts (even though they told us NOT to bring gifts!). We each received some smelly lotion and a small painting. My painting was an abstract of an African woman carrying her baby on her back. I need to get it framed and hang it on the wall.

After Peter and Yvonne's house, we were supposed to come back to the apartment and open presents from the roommates. But we didn’t have time because we needed to go to Pastor Cheryl's for the evening. We had lots of sweets and desserts at her house while we watched the movie "Happy Feet." It was odd to watch a movie about penguins when it was HOT. But we had a nice quiet end to the day. Just hanging out and relaxing with our "Africa Family."

And finally, after a very busy day, we came back to the apartment. My roommates and I opened our presents from each other at 10PM. I kinda liked having Christmas events all day long. It stretched the day out and helped prevent the "Christmas let down" that you often get when you rush through the day. My roommates got me a few Christian fiction books, a small Bible that will fit in my purse and zips closed so the things in my purse won’t mess it up, and the WOW 2008 CD. They did a great job! I really feel spoiled this Christmas. I hope they liked their presents as much as I like mine.

Now the apartment has the typical after Christmas MESS! Guess I better go do some cleaning. Thanks to all of you who prayed for me this Christmas. God truly blessed me with a great day! I hope your Christmas was a great one too! God Bless you and Merry Christmas!!!