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A Ugandan Christmas

This year was my first African Christmas. It was the first Christmas away from my family. Basically, it was a bunch of "firsts". Nothing was the same, and I had the time of my life. Christmas Eve in America always brought me to church to join with other believers in the celebration of our King.This year, it involved bon fires and dancing! I wish I could have got some pictures of the beauty. I am always taken away at night with a fire. There is just something beautiful about the crackling of the wood, and the smoke rising to the starry sky. We sang some African praise song. These were songs I learned at New Heart, my precious church in Boise. I was missing them terribly lately, and singing those songs with the beautiful kids of Redeemer House brought some contentment in my heart.
Christmas morning was filled with hot chocolate and church. The kids had some friends from America come and spend the day with them. They had all kinds of sugar, and played and played and played! They were all over the place! I gave up trying to keep up with what they were doing. It was beautiful. I love watching kids play. It brings contentment to my heart -- The perfect Christmas gift!
(Christmas Morning Hot Chocolate)
It was good to step away from the commercialized Christmas of America. I sometimes get caught up in giving gifts and doing all the meaningless (but still fun!) things. Take away spending as much money as possible. Remove the decorations. Forget the guy in the beard. And (dare I say?) throw out the Christmas cookies. Take it all away, and you have a baby in a manger. One born to die for the entire world. This Christmas, I got to step away from the multitude of the American Christmas traditions. As I result, I was reminded of that baby. Now, we still had the decorations, the gifts, and even some cookies, but behind it all we remembered Christ. We took the time to praise Him. I needed that reminder, and I came to Uganda following that baby, because thirty years after that first Christmas, he died for me and for the rest of the world. And the rest of the world needs to hear of that wonderful salvation.
I have also been blessed with technology. Most of the time, I cannot stand it! I am just not good with it, and don't always like to be dependent on technology. However, it has been a wonderful way to stay connected with my family. We were able to skype their Christmas morning. I pestered them until they woke up through facebook by commenting on a thousand pictures. It was wonderful to be able to talk with them... even if they made one of my favorite treats in front of my face. Haha. While I was waiting for them to wake up, a few of my kids and I made this wonderful video. It is our "Merry Christmas to those who know Auntie Mary" So hopefully it works (like I said, I am not good with technology!)



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