Activities of Christmas in Uganda

While I miss many of the cozy and nostalgic activities that surround a Christmas break in my memories, I wanted to record a couple of the activities that I'm sure will be nostalgic in our kids memories from their many Christmases in Uganda.  If I were more clever, I would think of someway to record this as "the twelve days of christmas" or some such.  But, for now, I just want to make sure I get a record of equatorial activities of Christmas!

Technically from last year, but some sort of a party at the trampoline for our neighbors and community

Also, technically from last year... this is a slip and slide made from a large advertising banner--hours of fun with this bequeathed to us from the Button family when they left

Wonder World-- so much fun though from my perspective it is so worn down-- luckily, the kids haven't exactly honed in on that.  And they were boasting that Disney Land costs $100 dollars but Wonder World is only 4 dollars! A bargain--maybe 100 dollar entrance would translate into a bit more upkeep. 

Our neighbors always host a carols night for UCU staff

Mark preparing for Kidepo-- but in a few days, we'll be doing the same prep for a trip to take the girls on safari at Murchison falls where they have never been. 

Christmas breaks (and the hot month of December) usually means lots  of swimming

Christmas traditions--religious with some cultural observations!

Religious:

Advent:

a. Advent wreath-- light a candle every Sunday of advent and the christmas candle on Christmas day.  Follow the prayers of the Book of Common Prayer for each sunday of advent, or look around for other sources of prayers and readings.
b. Advent calendar:  The children get to count each day of Advent.  We've never done a chocolate advent calendar but those could be fun in the future.

My grandmother made this Advent calendar

Mark gave me this one for Christmas--picked out by me in Nairobi from a "beyond fair trade" company (cheaper for me since I was there, but its a project worth supporting)
http://www.amaniafrica.org/product-category/christmas-2

c. This year we did this activity because the girls love this bible.  Could be good for anyone out there with younger kids. http://adrielbooker.com/advent-jesus-storybook-bible/

d. I have visions of taking the level of content up some levels every year as the kids get older as it is such a meaningful time of year and with the "carrot" of Christmas, I think kids are ready to be pretty engaged in the process of Advent.

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day:
This year we went to a Christmas Eve service and Christmas Day.  In Uganda the Christmas Day service is the main event, but our campus has scheduled a 5pm service for the expats, mostly.  Anyway,  this year as we wiped sweat from our brow, our friend Brian Dennison preached the Christmas Eve sermon and the most resounding "carol" was "Feliz Navidad" at the end of the service! After Christmas Eve service, we went home for dinner and opening on gift.  In future, I hope we'll be reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on Dec 23rd and 24th as both Mark and I grew up doing that and its a very warm-hearted kid-friendly way to remind us of the meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Day, the campus also had a service that was fairly low in numbers (many people go home to their villages for Christmas).  However the numbers in Sunday school were plenty.  We had one of those funny things happen where some kind church goer at home sends gifts for children in Africa, and our kids come home with baggies of goods from Oriental Trading company.  Like last year when our children got gifts from Samaratin's Purse "shoebox" efforts.  Yikes, should we write the thank you note to this kid in America from a middle class American child who lives in Uganda?

Before church, we opened our stockings and one bigger present and after church we opened the remaining gifts.

Daniel and Mary got legos-- legos are a real classic, glad they are making a come back even if there is a marketing component to the whole gig.  

Post-church presents-- photo to show that the cat has made it indoors!

Rachel always wants to wear my classes--now she has her own--bought for $1.50 from a street vendor. Score. 

In Uganda, New Years Day is a big deal and they have a service.  To be specific they have an "all-night" service from 10pm New Years Eve to 8am New Years Day.  Dorothy was telling Rachel about it.  Rachel said, "I could not do church for 12 hours."  I said in my heart, "amen, sister."  But, the tradition of all nighters works here and I can only applaud them from afar. :)

I'm sliding into some "cultural observations".... Basically I think New Years is a huge day (more so than even birthdays. I think it is the time of year all Ugandans observe that we've survived another year.   It is funny but every Sunday during Sunday school, the children have a time of prayer requests and testimony.  Child after child goes up the microphone and says, "thank you to God that I'm alive".   It is one of those more stark cultural realities that I never really get over.  Almost all Ugandans express daily gratitude that they are alive this day-- "give us today our daily bread" in a very real way.  What a thing we take for granted, but also what a fundamental part of our consciousness that is so different-- both when it comes to gratitude and daily trust in God but also when you think of the rational implications that result from counting on being alive for each day at a time.

Future religious traditions:
1. St. Nicholas Day-- candy in shoes? Thinking of others in need?
2. 12 Days of Christmas: Saw some things about this last year but I feel like there may be a way to keep Advent a bit more somber and reflective if I know we can make the 12 days of Christmas more celebratory (again, maybe coming up with ways to do fun activities for the 12 days, maybe thinking of ways to do generosity, sorting and preparing for the new year, etc... )
3. Epiphany--The wise men bring gifts to Jesus-- is there a good way to tie the "gifts" part of Christmas to the story of the wise men.

Basically, I feel I have some Advent traditions in mind, some Christmas Eve and Christmas day things in mind but then things start to go down hill quickly! So, we'll see if that develops in the future!

Responding to "request #1"--Photo updates!

The last time I posted photos was October, so the following are a bit scrambled but are photos from the last two months.... I'll try to give some explanation in the captions!

Daniel and I joined the Community Art class and visited this awesome project, Breakdance Uganda.  They have a cool documentary film available on Itunes called "Bouncing Cats" if you want to find out more (they are also on facebook)

This has been the season of baby animals--these are two of our puppies--Thorin and Bjorn.  And our cat had kittens three weeks ago, so maybe when they come down from their super hiding spot on the top shelf of our outdoor storage tunnel, they'll show up in photos!  I'm temped to bring them inside for the next month--for their uber cuteness and to protect their teenage mother from an inevitable repeat experience! 

This fall with the homeschooling action going on, we signed the kids up for a soccer league in Kampala that was pretty cool.  BTW, next semester, I'm hanging up my homeschooling hat, and trekking the kids into a small international school in Kampala (Acacia International School)

The kids at a local pool-- we have a perfect climate for lots of pool days all year round. 

We went to a sugar factory for a tour (this was not the Hostess tour you remember from days of youth).  Sadly, they were making menthol cough drops this day so there was a pretty strong smell in the place.  On the up side, lots of free candy to sample!

We've had this Elmo costume for 8 years, and it had a pretty cute inhabitant this year-- this is Noll, Dorothy's son-- Rachel's "boyfriend." yikes. 

We got to watch a cool solar eclipse this year-- didn't get quite as dark as the kids were expecting so they weren't super impressed.

Mary turns 6.  After her birthday week, she told me that it wasn't that good of a birthday for her.  Sorry, homeslice, but I did what I can do.  (a home birthday party, an outing, a family birthday meal/gifts, and another small outing with friends)

Rachel had a solo in her class song... someday I'll show some videos to family members! :)

Mary with her class, preparing to dance

The girls were at a Montessori school that would not match Montessori schools in the US, but is very progressive for here where most schooling is based on rote memorization with very large classes.  So as part of the program, the school was showing the parents how they do different types of learning. 

Earlier this fall, I did some tie dye with the missionary kids on campus-- always a winner.

This fall, I made friends with a British mom who has two girls the ages of our girls.  This is pass the parcel at their daughter's birthday party-- a great party that reminded me of parties of my youth.  

Dad is playing Monopoly with the boys-- yeah, Grandpa!

My good friend Gwyn visited us in Uganda this November (she lived here for 4.5 years and worked with Mark) The first picture is of us at lunch in Kampala; this picture is at the Nile where we had lunch. Not shown is the fun trip I took with her and our mutual friends to Fort Portal-- great chats, walks, meals, catching up on life.  Mark was at home on duty which made that a very relaxing grown up trip! 

Having a birthday dinner in town with our friends who are also our neighbors.  

If?

So, excuse my general "off the blogging bandwagon" state of being... I'm not sure I can tell you if its temporary or a general shift out of blogging.  I do think I find the non-interactive part of blogging defeating!  But then if I think of this as a place where I can return to later and see what was going on in my life, I feel more motivated to keep at it!

So, as I may not be ready to resolve that cosmic question right now, I thought I'd make a list of what I might blog on and see if anyone has any "requests and dedications"!

Cultural:
1. The girls end of the year performance at the local school--how that differs from what most of us know of end of the year elementary school Christmas productions.

2. Thanksgivings: In Uganda, it is common to have a "thanksgiving" at church which is a sort of corporate form gratitude-- an interesting example of a communal culture versus our individualistic culture where we are doing a lot more personal gratitude exercises--journals, lists, memoirs, etc...

3. Living and dying, mental health in material "scarcity" versus in community "scarcity"

General family life:
1. Photo update
2. Children and their stages of development
3. What Christmas traditions we do now, what might I want for the future, etc

Personal:
1. Books I've read this year, books that I like of the kids
2. Living in limbo--updates/reflections on a transition that will come anytime in the next 6-18 months
3. Thoughts on consumerism/culture-- how to avoid the negative consequences and discern the neutral/positive aspects of our day/age (personally and as parents)
4. Thoughts on gender and vocation

If anyone has ideas/experience in writing and reading blogs, I'd love to get a little more feedback on the whole genre.  If you do a blog, who is your audience and how do determine what they want to hear? If you do it more as a journal, how do you decide how much to divulge and is the fact that their is a wider audience a negative pressure on what you share? If you do it more as a place to write more than you can on facebook, is it fine to be pretty sporadic?

Pets and Events

Our Pet situation:  

Our beloved Athena, at the wise old age of 7 or 8 years old (that's between 50 and 60 years old)-- has four living puppies.   Pictured here are the two that we think we'll keep-- their "pet" names are Twinkle Toes and Wrinkle face.  I'm pretty sure they also have Tolkien names as well but i can't seem to keep those straight--Bjorn and Thorin perhaps! Even if one of them is a girl! 

Which brings me to our cat... The cat's name has been "Fiasco", then Mr. Whiskers, and now is mostly referred to as Bilbo.  Bilbo is also expecting kittens sometime! Yikes, I don't know that i'm up for this den of nurturing going on all around me! Luckily, the kids are taking their roles of pet care seriously--Daniel's in charge of the dogs including poop pick up which isn't pleasant and Mary is taking her job with the cat seriously.



Friends for the kids:

We have been I think unusually blessed to have a number of families on campus the whole time we've been in Uganda.  I do feel like our kids are growing up with some of the benefits of the "old" days in terms of a sort of pack of kids, various ages and personalities, a somewhat cousin-like acceptance that these other kids are your people and you going along, get along.  Despite some loud moments of disagreement,  there is an overriding sense of acceptance and belonging for the kids that I wouldn't trade (even if I grumble for the fact that about my lack of knowing when the house will be silent and when the whole pack will descend).

Our kids with friends, after swimming at a nearby pool

Tour at a sugar factory with the Dennisons who are also homeschooling

Sadly, this was the cough drop making week at the factory-- a reality that Rachel wasn't happy about

Events:

1. Halloween-- Halloween basically consists of trick or treating on campus.  Sometimes when a family has the energy we've done a little Halloween party but with many kids in Kampala schools (i.e. leaving home at 6:15 am), Thursday night is not an ideal time to have kids up late.  Here you can see that the Elmo costume we had for Daniel at age 3 is still getting use! I'm afraid Noll may win the cake for cutest in the Elmo suit!

Trick or treating at Rachel's house-- we had about 10 houses to stop at which was nice. 

2. Solar Eclipse
a. a recent article about Solar Eclipse in Uganda.
b. different forms for viewing eclipse... glasses that Rachel is putting on. Also you see basins of water in the yard--you can look at the reflection in the water

Pin-hole photo box: Don't know that I can explain it but Mark made a box with a pin-hole prick and the image of the sun is shown at the end of the box (upside down, I think). I gather this is similar to what artist would have used back in the day to try and make more photographic images of what they were going to paint.

You see the small image of the moon passing over the sun in the box?

I think all the adults could appreciate the change in the quality of light, but i'll confess that the kids were expecting that it might get as black as night when it happened and therefore had fun running around but weren't awe-struck by the event.  

3. Kampala Kids League: A weekly event we've tried this fall is joining Kampala Kids league.  It is a very organized football league that is open to those who can pay, but mostly is a project that uses its profits for making football available to disadvantaged kids.  Mark is there right now with the kids which is why I have the chance to write this blog entry! :)

For grandparents and the very devoted, there are some cute pictures of the kids on the KKL facebook page-- click here: photos of the kids at the league.  

Miscellaneous photo mantage--an attempt to break the blogging drought!

A thing of beauty is a joy forever!

A little chronological update:

1. I went to Nairobi in August to attend a USAID conference re: writing some grants for UCU this year.  Mark also enabled me to have 2 days of grown up time alone which was lovely-- included are some pictures from the National museum.  I also enjoyed some different coffee treats, different crafts and arts project. I also appreciated how much greenery is in Nairobi due to the efforts of Wangari Maathai, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai.  

2. Daniel had his 9th birthday-- the last two photos include some moments from that.  This semester Mark and I have done some homeschooling with Daniel.  While it includes some benefits like focusing on what he needs, doing Rosetta stone spanish and getting to do some field trips (this week we'll go to the sugar factory), Daniel is missing the social aspect of school.  Daniel is loving watching Broncos games with Mark, loving playing with his friends, learning to play some sports, and still enjoys a good prank from time to time.  

3. In September the girls started attending a local school here in Mukono which is very progressive by Ugandan standards but may still be a bit too "rote" for our kids and the school schedule (their main break all of Dec, Jan and some of Feb) and no break in our summertime is not ideal.  So, it may not be a permanent option, but i've been very proud of them for their efforts and good attitude about it despite the less "play-based" mentality of preschool/kindergarten.  Not decided yet for January what we'll do about school, but will keep you posted. 

All things trees hold a special place in my heart... a cool stain glass mosaic at the National Museum in Nairobi.

A cool bench design!

The map of Kenya in stained glass-- praying for Kenya and all of East Africa due to terrorist threats from Al Shabab, a terrorist group from Somalia.

I've shown shoes at the door photo before (cultural practice here)-- but can you see what's added in this photo? We're at the age of legos, star Wars and Lord of the Rings.  

Using the card shuffler from Grandma Kay-- Daniel's birthday (yes, early September!)

Cooking time with Dorothy--prob Daniel's birthday cake!