Over the last few years I have come to dislike the Christmas season, I know, Bah-humbug!! There are several factors to this feeling which I don't really feel I need to get into. This year it didn't really feel like Christmas was coming, came or existed. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The weather here was warm and sunny. It seemed a little out of place to see Christmas decorations and even santa at the nearby mall where we do most of our shopping.
Here is Kenya they have second hand markets, called Mitumba (me-tomb-ba). Brian was able to find some gifts for our kids there. Others he collected at shops around town. On Wednesday we packed up the family and headed downtown to pick up a Christmas tree, some last minute gifts, a tour of Brian's work and a bible for me. This was both a fun and disturbing experience. On our way from the archives to the bookstore a man trailed closely behind me. Unbeknownst to me he slashed the small pocket of my backpack. Zoe scolded him and as I turned to look he disappeared. This fellow was probably disappointed to find a small packet of kleenex, hand sanitizer and a small bottle of tylenol. Not the bounty he was expected from this mzungu. Needless to say I felt violated, and angry. I was ready to beat the crap out of anyone else who tried to take my tissue.
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| Our Baobob tree with a lone ornament |
The rest of the afternoon was spent wrapping presents, packing and shopping for our trip, and wrangling kids. After a late dinner we set up the tree and the presents for an American style Christmas. It was nice to watch them open their presents and see how excited they were about them. Even though they didn't get a ton of stuff they all exclaimed that this was the best Christmas ever. While I did miss my family I was happy to not have to run all over the place and emphasize over and over again that Christmas is NOT about getting presents.
I think I will stop here and write another post about the next phase of Christmas.
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