Christmas 2013 in pictures

Today I am celebrating my 5th Christmas in Mali!
What is Christmas like here?  You can see my photos that cover some of the activities of the last few days.

We went shopping at a couple shops downtown that sell a lot of expensive imported goods.  Maybe next week I will write a post so you can see what we bought, it's a project that isn't finished yet.  Anyway, you can see me with a huge creepy Santa that I found in one of the stores. yikes.





I got to choose and prepare the songs and powerpoint overheads and play the piano for our English Christmas caroling service.  We were all set up outside and after all the singing and the message there was good food to eat. 

The above picture was taken at the Christmas party for our group.  There were 18 people there to celebrate, sing, dance, eat good food, and spend time together.  Of the 18, we had people from 8 different countries. I love the internationality of our group!

Below is little Grace in her Santa hat.  She, like many girls here, just had her hair braided for the holidays.

 One of my colleagues from English school is scooping popcorn into a paper cone to give to a student at our Christmas Movie Night.  We set up chairs and projected "The Nativity Story" in a big classroom.  Everyone was invited and about 20 students came.  We watched the movie in English with English subtitles.  About 15 minutes into it I paused it to clarify what we had seen, to discuss the setting, answer questions, and make sure everyone was understanding it well enough.

Many people get new clothes made to wear for Christmas.  All of the churches make fabric each year and sell it a few weeks before Christmas.  Many people show up to the Christmas service wearing their new outfits made of the special Christmas fabric.  In America if I went to church wearing the same outfit as someone else it might be kind of embarrassing, but here half the church has on the same fabric and everyone loves it.  This year our church was selling purple and blue fabric and I liked it so I asked JP to buy it for me as a Christmas present.  He did, and then I took it to a tailor to be sewn.  Above is a picture of the tailor putting the finishing touches on my new outfit.  You can see me wearing it in the last picture.

 We went to church on Christmas Eve.  We were there from about 7:45pm until just after 11pm I think.  There was a service that had a lot of music.  We all sang some songs together and JP played the guitar to help lead that.  There were small groups presenting songs and the children did a skit.  JP sang a song in N'Gambaye, a language he knows from Chad, with 2 other Chadian guys in the church.    Last year some ladies from the church cooked up a big meal, but this year everyone was asked to bring a dish to share. 

 The last picture is of me and Masitan, the woman who works for us several mornings a week to help with cleaning, laundry, and food shopping.  She wanted to come to church with us for Christmas to share in the celebrating.