It’s hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone. We just had our last of the Christmas parties tonight. We’ve had quite the bout of festivities, starting with the missionary Christmas party last Friday. We enjoyed a great spread of food, a rousing round of Christmas Taboo, and a great Christmas recital by the kids. A lot of work went into preparing for the night, but it was enjoyed by all. I was especially proud of my violin/piano students. They all did such a great job. I know they worked hard for their performances.
We’ve had several other get-togethers, but our busiest day by far was Christmas Day. You’ve never experienced a progressive dinner until you’ve experienced it African style! Christmas here is a big day for visiting friends and family. So, armed with a few small gifts for people, Ellen, C, and I headed out to visit. We started off at Marie-Claire’s home, the lady who helps us out around the house. She had prepared a giant feast, and she insisted that we load up our plates. I had taro (a starch prepared similarly to mashed potatoes) with a spicy sauce, ndole (a sauce made from pistaches and a plant similar to spinach), a noodle mixture, chicken, and fish. And that was a small portion! I’m sure Marie-Claire would have preferred to load our plates up, but we told her that she was only our first stop of the day.
After Marie-Claire’s, we stopped by the homes of two ladies from our church. We didn’t want to eat food there but just wanted to greet each of them, so those visits were a little shorter. At 3:00, we were then scheduled to eat with another family. The wife prepared a peanut sauce with chicken for us. They also insisted that we try their folere, a drink made by boiling dried hibiscus flowers in water. I must say, peanut sauce is my favorite African dish so far, so I especially enjoyed this stop. But, by this time, we were getting pretty full, and we had one more food stop to make. The three of us felt like we rolled into that last home. Karen, the wife, had prepared a feast! Her food looked incredible—she even had prepared pork. But we were so full, we could just shove a few bites down. Then the three of us sat on the couch, basically in a comatose stage.
After that stop, Ellen and I dropped C off at home before we stopped in at two more homes. The last family we visited was our national pastor and his wife Julianna. I told Julianna that we were stuffed and we definitely couldn’t eat any more food. She then proceeded to try to feed us more food, but I held off. I think bad things would have happened had I eaten another bite!
I must say, this was probably the most unique Christmas I’ve ever experienced. I’m more of a homebody, so to me, the perfect Christmas would be spent at home. But, I had a wonderful Christmas; I’m so glad I was able to visit with people from our church and spend the time with them.
