Monday, December 21, 2009

O Tannenbaum

Christmas in Kenya! Here is our tree. I got it at Nakumatt for about $15. It came in a box not bigger than a shoebox. Once I got her home I decided I probably should have splurged on the $30 version but oh well. All I could find were colored lights (I'm more of a clear light type of a girl) so we went with those and when we put them on our little tree they started blinking at all sort of random intervals. We carefully followed the directions and changed out the "blinking" bulb but alas our little tree has a mind of it's own and sometimes the lights blink and sometimes they don't. Claire and Ford both love the colored lights and think the tree is great. They knock it over several times a day so it helps that I don't have lots of expensive ornaments on it. Oh yes ornaments . . .

We gathered tiny pine cones, added some green construction paper and dried pasta a voila! Ornaments! I also brought a couple of ornament craft kits from Hobby Lobby with us so we had an all day ornament extravaganza at our place and feel festive and jolly!

This will be a different Christmas this year for a lot of reasons. It is 80 degrees outside. We are in a new home in a new country and only have a few friends. We won't be with family this year. But so far this "holiday season" has been really nice. There are no massive ad campaigns where we live to get you to go out and buy stuff you can't afford for people who don't really need it. As we look forward to Christmas we think about Jesus and the miracle of his birth. We are overwhelmed by God's love and the amazing way He chose to come to save us. Our kids are excited about Christmas because it is a celebration of Jesus' birthday. Don't get me wrong they are also looking forward to their 3 gifts (just like He got on His birthday). But it is nice to have so much of the distraction gone this year and focus on what is important and beautiful.
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3 comments:

Christina said...

Nice tree! I have a little Charlie Brown christmas tree that one of the men on station cut down for me. It's decorated with popcorn strings and homemade ornaments, but I love it!

Stephanie said...

love the tree! love your family!! Merry Christmas!

The Drs. McLaughlin said...

We just strung our ornaments up on a ribbon over the fireplace. Maybe a tree next year. Anyway, Merry Christmas. Alyssa told us she spoke w/ you on the phone. We're praying for your family, and hope to make a trip out to Kijabe in the next month or two. Maggie says to say hi to Gus. :)