Christmas
Two weeks in the Eastern Cape without any internet or contact with the outside world seemed like it would easy... until Christmas neared.
I had spent Christmas out of the country before.
I had even spent Christmas away from my mom.
I had never spent Christmas where I was unable to contact my family.
That was the hardest.
A few days before Christmas, one of the leaders decided we needed to get into the holiday spirit. So we gathered a few of the village children in Port St. John's to help us find the perfect tree that would become our Christmas tree.
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One of our leaders made an angel to top the tree
We also enlisted the children to help us gather flowers to decorate our tree with!
And we took the tree back to our church, propped it up against the wall, decorated it, and it was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...in July...but it was December...
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| Our decorated tree |
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| Our angel |
After returning from the beach Christmas Eve, the leaders disappeared once again and the rest of us showered, ate dinner, and spent the rest of the night watching The Grinch on ABC Family.
The village was beginning to party.
Christmas morning I awoke to find
presents under the tree!!!!
The leaders had contacted each of our parents and asked them if they wanted to send a gift or something for us to open on Christmas... How sweet! :0)
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She could not wait to open the presents!      
We had a special breakfast for Christmas -- crepes with butter, honey, sugar, shredded coconut, and fresh fruit. We took everything down to Mike's place and spent Christmas morning with him.
    
We also had some children join us and we decided to teach them a Xhosa song our friends taught us.
 
Akekho Ofana noYesu
(There's no one, there's no one like Jesus)
Akekho Ofana noYe
(There's no one, there's no one like Him)
For lunch we joined our friends, Lumka, Lucy, Mama, and the rest of their family. They made us a more culturally traditional holiday meal - but nothing too crazy. ;-) Chicken, rice, shredded beets, beans, cabbage, and cooked vegetables. For dessert they had a custard/cherry jello mix with canned fruit, and then Nik Naks (South African cheetos) and boxes of holiday cookies. And soda. Have I said yet that I love South African soda? I don't even like soda.. But it is made with real sugar...
    
Praying.
We ended Christmas night with some homemade eggnog (they don't have that in South Africa) and worship with one of our friends.
 
New Years
New Years Eve, we returned to Port St. John's from Magwambu. It was so lovely to be able to take a shower (even a cold one) and clean off as much of the Magwambu dirt as I could. Our team gathered with our friends (Mike, Akosua, and Aseza) at Mike's hut. The guys started a fire in the hut and brie-d some lamb and sausage, while some of the girls made rice in Mike's hut. It had been windy and raining all day, so we covered the open part of the hut with a tarp and we gathered our sleeping bags to enjoy our last night in Port St. John's. The church we were staying at was hosting a service from evening time until 6am. Mike let us sleep in the hut and in his igloo...
      
New Years day we packed up the Quantum and said our goodbyes as we began to 20 hour drive back to the Western Cape! We stopped again in Graaff-Reinet at Aan Die Ower B&B and continued the drive back to Capetown!
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It was definitely a memorable way to spend the holidays. The weird part is thinking how I will never again spend a Christmas with all of those same people together in the same place, doing the same thing. It definitely puts perspective on living each day fully when you come to the realization that you are never, ever going to have this moment back again, nor are you going to have a moment like it.
Treasure the moments. Each is different. Each is special.
 A Gift To The Team - Love, A Team Member |
