A Very Zamtastic Christmas

It was an unforgettable Christmas for so many reasons! I missed being with my family, but really made the most of my Christmas here. My close Peace Corps friend, Heidi, came out to the village with me and we both loved every minute! Ok, well the fact that I could not pick up Christmas music on my world radio was sad, but I figure I can make up for that next year! And dancing to Amy Grant in my socks on my parent's wood floor is really not replicable in Zambia, so I didn't give that one a try. This was a Christmas of so many firsts!

It was the first time I...



~Cut down my own Christmas tree...and with a machette no less. I felt a little too cool.
~Cooked Christmas Eve dinner...my portion was homemade applesauce and garlic mashed potatos. The fact that I cooked is pretty startling, but that it turned out amazing and I did it over an open fire is, well, a Christmas miracle. Second only to Christ's birth. The fact that Heidi made green bean caserole and stuffing is remarkable too, but she is just remarkable like that!
~Made Christmas ornaments with African children. I loved seeing some of our American Christmas traditions through the eyes of my villagers. We showed my Club Mweka kids how to make ornaments, put glitter on everything, and hang them on trees. They loved it. Their parents probably don't love me for the glitter they will be enjoying all throughout the year....
~Baked and decorated sugar cookies. I have definetly eaten sugar cookies in the past, but this was the first year that I baked my great grandma's recipe for sugar cookies. They were so good. I had all my little village buddies over to decorate them on Christmas Eve. Heidi and I turned my chikuta into a winter wonderland-complete with paper snowflakes. They loved it!
~Opened gifts by candlelight. We opened presents after dinner on Christmas Eve and thanks to a package I recieved right before I went to the village, I had all kinds of great things to open from my Grandma Jones. My mom sent me out a stocking too, but I had opened it before...not too good at waiting. Sorry, mom!
~Sang Masiku Asweya (Silent Night). I love that song so much, and it was so special to sing it in Tonga with my villagers. I told the pastor I loved that song and we ended up singing it four times during the Christmas Service.

Those are just a few of the highlights from this year! I have uploaded photos to my snapfish account. If I didn't send you a link I probably don't have your email. Send it my way if you want to check out some of the photos! Hope all of you enjoyed your Christmas and were able to have a few of your own firsts!