Merry Christmas!!!

Dear Readers,


Today was Christmas, and it was one of my favorite Christmas Celebrations ever. To start the day, we planned to go to Darcy's kitchen, which is where I was last night on Christmas Eve with Bailey ;). Of course the driver got lost, and we were about an hour late, but we got there eventually. 


All 5 of us, and Mama Fatin. We ordered, talked, ate, and eventually exchanged presents. We did a Secret Santa routine, which worked out fantastically. It makes me think we should always do Secret Santa!


Then we went to AmidEast, and watched Elf. Will Ferrel is totally insane and hilarious. Here's my favorite scene, the dancing in the mail room:

I found a white board and we decorated it:

After AmidEast we went to the house of one of our program director's friend, to have a Christmas lunch/dinner. (We tried mixing those words earlier today, and linner, and dunch just don't sound right).

This lovely family were really cool. They had lived most of their lives in Africa, so they had a really cool background, yet still felt like a homegrown American Family. We ate Turkey, yams, mashed taters, and stuffing. All that you could ever want for a Christmas Dinner.

We had some really great conversations, and laughed a lot. They even gave us presents!! All the girls got a scarf and Jewelry. Noah got one of those tangled metal puzzles, in which you try to separate the ring from the enigma it's attached to. 

I love these puzzles, so I tried to solve it. Then I tangled it worse. Hehe.

After handing it off to Noah and our host's son, they couldn't figure out how to put it back to normal. I took it back and fiddled with it again. 10 minutes later: "Aha! I got it!" The toy laid there in its original unsolved position. 

Later in the evening I tried to play with it again. While listening to conversation, I sat there clinking away with the ring and chain and triangle. Then all of the sudden - "ting!"

The chain broke, and the ring fell into my lap. No one noticed, so I waited for a pause in the conversation. 

"Dude," I said to them "I broke it."

The room erupted, and everyone was laughing at me. I started cracking up too, because it was just so sad and funny. 

"Hey she solved it, the ring came out!" someone said.

The rest of the night was just as nice and lovely. There was a football game on, which was the first football on television we've seen since leaving the States. All the food was American, the language English. The love in the house was happy. It was an awesome night!

To end it Noah, Bailey and I went to the beach area, to hang out at Starbucks and the shops. We walked along the black beach, and took in the beautiful country Oman. The stars were beautiful. 

I can't imagine leaving. 

The first semester is almost over. But for today its Christmas, so we'll stay in the present, and we'll focus our attention on the significance of the day. It may be important for family gatherings, and love in community, but its also the celebration of the Savior coming to Earth to fulfill hundreds of biblical prophecies and begin (what is to me) the most significant life for humans. So Happy Jesus' Birthday!

Or, more simply put, Merry Christmas. 

I hope your day was filled with joy, and God Bless!