I have really come to adore Christmastime in Mali. My co-workers have become family and we all really enjoy each other. And in an effort to ease the sadness of not being at "home" during the holidays, we end up making things really special here.
Here are some of my favorite things from this past holiday season:
1. My parents and brother got to come visit and they were here for Thanksgiving! AND they brought turkeys with them! Also, my mom made cheesecake and cranberry sauce...two of my favorite Connie recipes. It was a lot of fun to get to show them everything here and for all of our friends and family here to get to meet them. They were here at the same time as a medical clinic so they even go to make themselves useful that way.
2. Last year started a tradition of going over to our friend Shirley's house. She is an amazing, amazing woman and she has lived here for over 25 years! She also loves Christmas and has boxes and boxes and boxes full of decorations...including, I think, over 30 nativities from all over the world. Last year Abby, Sarah, and I went over and helped decorate. This year, all 4 Harrisons, Abby, and two other co-workers helped. Shirley always puts on lots of Christmas movies and makes sausage balls for the occasion.
3. Another family in town who are our close friends decided to celebrate Advent. One of the activities for the kids was to plan and throw a Christmas party. Abby and I didn't know if we were going to be able to go until the last minute, but we're so glad we did. They even provided some gifts for us so that we could participate in the gift exchange...such a sweet family. This same family also loaned Abby and me every season of The Office so that I could catch up and so that Abby could see them for the first time. I hadn't watched them in a long time and it kind of cracked me up that I say and do stuff from that show all the time and don't even realize where it came from in the first place.
4. On Christmas Eve we all went over to Shirley's house for our big party. It was a "finger food" menu, so Abby and I took Buffalo Chicken Dip and pita chips...pretty delicious. We decided to sing some Christmas songs...and definitely started out with "Joy to the World"...but the "Jeremiah was a bull frog" version.
5. On Christmas Day we all went over to Nafi's house and just hung out and ate. Some people played cards, but I watched Charlie Brown with some kids. Nafi continues to make a fantastic pecan pie. I don't even like pecan pie, but Nafi's pecan pie has become one of my favorite desserts.
6. Abby and I had to miss the New Year's campout this year so that we could work...which ended up not happening. So on New Year's Eve, Abby and I were stuck in town (watching The Office) when we started hearing fireworks going off. We ran outside and sat on our tailgate with our guard and watched all the fireworks shows going on...they were actually legit. Malians love them some fireworks.
We didn't know how much of the stuff we were actually going to get to attend because we had so much work to do in such a short amount of time. Our guys kept canceling on us, though, and we ended up going to almost everything. It was frustrating because time just kept ticking away, but it was also good because we got to spend a lot of time with people we love and also just rest. Both of us felt like it was the calm before the storm and that God was allowing us to rest and at the same time saying, "Just get ready." We were right.
