Christmas in Chogoria

We love Christmas in Chogoria.  Even though it can still feel busy, what with wrapping up the homeschool semester and work at the hospital not slowing down much, it's remarkably slower than the Christmas season tends to be for the typical American family.  Besides one weekend that requires us to travel for a Field Meeting with our WGM Kenya family, we don't travel anywhere else.  There's nowhere to travel to, no one that needs our attention outside of Chogoria.  So we hunker down and do our best to slow down too.

Life on the compound gets quieter as other families do travel.  There are basically no Kenyans around at Christmas since they all travel to be with their families during the holidays.  The only people left are the expats - the missionaries and the non-Kenyan Africans who can't easily go home to be with family.  So it's quieter than usual, which is a nice change of pace.

We begin our Christmas season with finding our tree.  We've maintained the tradition of finding a tree branch that serves our purposes - it's a Charlie Brown tree every year, but it we love it and it actually fits in our small house.

This year we had several new ornaments to add to the tree.  We always get an ornament from our travels that year, and we traveled so much this year that we needed multiple new ornaments!  We had something from Thailand, Scotland, Albania, and Rome.

And of course we put the Afro Angel on top of the tree.  There won't be many more years when Eli can hoist one of the boys on his shoulders to put the angel up where it belongs!  Soon enough they'll be able to reach the top of the tree for themselves.

I had forgotten to pull out the fake snow, but the boys consistently reminded me for several days until I had to stop everything else and pull out the fake snow for the tree!  They will not let our little tree remain unadorned with the reminder of what season it is in the Midwest.

One of our community traditions is to carol at the hospital.  Whoever is around gathers at the end of the work day and we go around the wards and sing a couple songs in each place.  The patients love it!  We like to joke that we're just making a joyful noise, but really it's a wonderful time with lots of joy and laughter.  It's especially nice that the kids can participate too.

Asa and Jack were caroling buddies - they held hands the whole time and it was the cutest thing ever!

My favorite part of the entire Christmas season this year was a day trip to Mt. Kenya National Park with just our family.  We needed time together, just us, and we needed quiet and solitude (especially for Eli who hasn't gotten a break from work this entire holiday season).

That day was the first time we took the boys on a real hike at the mountain.  We've been waiting until we knew Asa could keep up, and he did great!  They all did great.  And the Lord blessed us with perfect weather - cloudy enough to keep our faces from burning that close to the sun, and cool enough to keep from sweating as we trekked along.

We parked at the roadhead and hiked to Lake Ellis and back, breathing in fresh mountain air and marveling at the rugged scenery that left us speechless.

This wilderness is wild indeed, and soul-stirring, and soul-slowing.  I think that's why this was my favorite Christmas activity.  It fed our souls at the same time it slowed us down.

These are my new favorite photos: our precious sons, deep in the grandeur of Mount Kenya, together and content.

As we neared the lake, Asa spotted a rock hyrax on a cliffside!  I could hardly believe he'd seen it.  It was far away and blended in perfectly with its surroundings and was standing completely still most of the time.  I had to borrow Asa's binoculars to even see the thing, but he'd spotted it just by glancing at the rocks!  It was the first time any of us had seen one (except for Eli who saw several of them while climbing the mountain in 2019).  Everyone was really excited with the animal sighting.

Then, Lake Ellis.  A glorious mountain lake, or tarn as they're often called.  We rested, snacked on apples, and watched the ripples on the lake as the breeze ruffled the water.

The boys couldn't sit still long, even after we'd hiked for a while, but their energy helped them find a skink!  We didn't know they lived that high up.

We only made one quick stop on the way back, per the request of Caleb to explore this little ravine.  Aren't the trees fascinating?

What a glorious day!  There's a reason people often feel closer to God in nature.  The Lord really blessed us in every way, and we were thankful.

We had taken longer hiking than we meant to, so we wasted no time getting in the car and driving back down the mountain because we were due at Jane Rose's shamba for a Christmas meal together, as well as celebrating some December birthdays.  We always enjoy going to the shamba and being with the family!  They are the kindest people, and they are "our" people, and we love them dearly.

On Christmas Eve I wore my new kitenge dress to church, and Eli wore his old kitenge shirt, which didn't match each other at all except for a red and green theme for Christmas!  We figured it was good enough.

Since Eli had to work all of Christmas week, Christmas Eve was our only chance to have a family meal together.  We had found a small ham in Nairobi and complemented it with cheesy hashbrowns, green beans, and scotcheroos for dessert!  It was perfectly delightful.

After setting out a scotcheroo for Santa and tucking the boys into bed early, Eli and I watched a Christmas movie while wrapping presents.  And we even got to bed before midnight.  A Christmas miracle!

Christmas morning held all the joy it's meant to.  Children squealed and shouted, wrapping paper was flung and decorated the house, cinnamon rolls filled our noses with festive scents, and Mama left her jammies on all morning.  It was perfect.

Eli got me this book for Christmas and then it was my turn to squeal.  I love history, and I have done a deep dive into Kenyan history the past couple years as I've worked to create a Kenya History Class curriculum for the homeschool co-op, and this book is one I've seen and wanted for a long time.  It's chock full of photos and I've loved exploring its pages.  That photo on the cover is famous - the man sitting in the center is Chief Lenana, a well-known Maasai chief who has a peak of Mount Kenya named after him (the same peak that most hikers climb to, including Eli).  Kenya is unique in its photographic history.  Most other African nations don't have a comparable amount of photos available as part of their historical record.  Kenya has a ton.  This country's history is complicated and painful, but there is a plethora of written and photographic documentation from which we can learn about it, and for that I am grateful.

Last, but not least, our Christmas festivities ended with a community potluck.  It was a relatively small gathering, but food and fellowship were abundant.  I am eternally grateful for this place, and for these people, and for how much we've learned about living together as the Body of Christ in community because of this place and these people.

I was thankful for the chance to be home for Christmas, to sit in our small house with Christmas music playing in the background, eating treats and reading a novel in between preparing for the next semester and working on our HMA itinerary.  Chogoria is a good place to spend the holidays.

Merry Christmas from Chogoria!