It's Beginning to Feel a Lot Like Christmas

Last week we finally got the house looking like Christmas!  We have relatively few and simple decorations but they always feel more important than anything we do in the States because without them it's nearly impossible to make it feel like Christmas here.  There's no cold weather (let alone snow), no decorations around town, no Christmas music playing in stores, no lights adorning any houses.  Kenyans don't typically celebrate Christmas until Christmas Day itself, and the idea of decorating for the holiday is truly a foreign idea.

So it's all the more important and special that we do what we can to make our home feel like Christmas!

We returned to our "Christmas tree spot" just outside our compound, found a big branch from a cedar tree, and watched Eli chop it down so we could haul it back to the house.

We were gifted with an extra treasure too: Eli found a bird's nest in the tree for the boys to bring home.

Eli got the tree branch trimmed and put in a bucket of water, then it was time to pull out the ornaments!  This is my favorite part of preparing for Christmas.  We love to look at each ornament and remember what memory it holds.  We get a new ornament each year that represents somewhere we traveled that year.  This year we found a beautiful elephant ornament at Samburu where we went on safari and saw all the elephants drinking and playing at the river.

I love telling the boys stories behind ornaments we got before they were born.  They have a hard time imagining that we had a life before they were born - sometimes I have a hard time remembering that too!

Not too bad, right?  It doesn't compare to a real Christmas tree but it works great and we love it.  And we get a whiff of cedar whenever we walk by, which adds to the joy.

This year the boys wanted to add snow to the tree.  We always have fake snow on hand because Grandma Horn keeps us well supplied.  The boys can always remember the snow in Minnesota and Michigan because we make fake snow in Kenya every year.  They went a little overboard with it, throwing it all over the tree and creating a huge mess in the end, but it certainly adds extra charm!

We also pulled out our Kenyan Advent calendar.  I found this last year and just love it.  It has figures made out of banana leaves and has safari animals instead of livestock to surround the baby Jesus.

Lastly, I added a couple new decorations this year.  I had brought over this wooden "Merry Christmas" tabletop piece with the intentions of painting it last year, but never got around to it.  This year I was determined to make time for it, so one night I put on a Christmas movie and just painted away while Eli was on the phone with the hospital for a long time.  It was rather relaxing.

And these candle holders are a new acquisition.  I found them at a shop in Nairobi and couldn't resist them.  Well, I actually resisted them the first time I saw them, but the second time I couldn't.  They're just too fun and the red and white colors feel perfect for Christmas.  Asa likes the rhino best - no surprise there!

So it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here!  Add to all this the Christmas books we've been reading, the Christmas movies we've been watching, and the Christmas cookies we're eating, and we're thoroughly enjoying the season!