We had a relatively quiet Christmas this year, which was just what we needed. Eli's been working tirelessly lately and really needed a break. Thankfully he had the entire holiday weekend off, so we enjoyed a nice, slow-paced Christmas at home.
It started on Christmas Eve with a Christmas campfire! It was the first fire we had in a long time since the rainy season always puts campfires on hold. But the rains have ceased, we bought hot dogs on our last trip to Nairobi, and a large pile of firewood was ready and waiting. Eli built us a blazing fire!
I love every campfire we do. It feels so American and offers a touch of home. And the boys love it because, well, what boy doesn't love fire and hot dogs?
And what boy doesn't love using a machete?
We also had a special treat: scotcheroos! A friend was recently in Chogoria and brought us chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. (Can I just say that anyone who brings such precious goods all the way to Chogoria is a true friend indeed - a friend for life!). I had the other ingredients on hand and we were all set for Christmas scotcheroos.
We continued our Christmas tradition of getting the boys new jammies for Christmas Eve. Once again, it took some forethought and plenty of planning to get these here. I ordered them on Amazon and had them shipped to a stranger's house where a colleague (who was a friend of said stranger) would be passing through before returning to Kenya and graciously offered to haul them back across the ocean for us. Which worked out well, except that we had to drive 8 hours across the country to get them! Thankfully we had already made plans to visit Tenwek at Thanksgiving anyway, which is where we picked up these Christmas jammies and then hauled them back to Chogoria with the boys being none the wiser.
And they loved their new duds! Pretty great, aren't they? Perfect jammies for dinosaur-loving and dragon-loving boys :)
Christmas morning started bright and early with three wiggle worms jumping in our bed and shouting "Merry Christmas!" Somehow Eli and I dragged ourselves out of bed, and somehow the boys waited until I got the cinnamon roll dough rising before even opening their stockings. Then it was pure Christmas chaos... I mean, Christmas joy :)
I love how excited these boys get about any and all gifts. The tiniest gift gets celebrated just as much as the biggest gift. Case in point: they each got a package of Goldfish crackers in their stockings (which is definitely a special treat) and upon pulling it out Kai exclaimed, "Goldfish crackers! I can't believe it! I must be dreaming!" There were similar reactions throughout the morning.
Then it was time for cinnamon rolls, reading new books, and taking Christmas naps. Just as every Christmas should be :)
The fun continued in the evening with nyama choma! Eli helped slaughter the goat this year - not just the slaughtering, but the butchering as well, which was a first for him. There were not a lot of people around, and the folks who normally do this were among those away, so it fell to a couple newbies like Eli to slaughter and butcher the goat. But they succeeded in their task and we had a lot of meat to eat! It was a small gathering because so few people were here, but it was wonderful to be together. We absolutely love our Chogoria community!
And I love these ladies all the more for dressing up on Christmas! So classy. And then there's me in my typical T-shirt attire. It never occurred to me that Christmas could be a day worth dressing up for, but with so few opportunities to dress up these days, I probably should have joined them. Maybe next time I will :)
We're grateful for yet another wonderful Christmas in Chogoria!
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