Medina Life, December 2017

Thanksgiving

So technically this was November and not December, and technically it wasn’t even Thanksgiving Day (which is not a holiday here), but the Sunday before. But we had pumpkin pie and stuffing and mashed potatoes, and everyone played Wiffle Ball, and we even had a two-year-old who wouldn’t stand still for the group picture. So it was Thanksgiving.

Then we descended into the Christmas season at HOPAC, which was pretty much just as crazy as the Christmas season in American schools…….

Primary School Christmas Party

And everyone dressed festively…..

And the classes had a “Decorate-Your-Teacher” competition, which was pretty awesome, though I’m not sure the teachers have totally forgiven me for it yet.

Primary School Christmas Musical

Thanking our wonderful music and drama teachers who pulled all of this off.

Visiting my friend Lucy’s house…

Our annual trip to the water park with my worker’s kids….

St. Columba’s Mbezi District Christmas Party

We rented out HOPAC for this event, and Gil was asked to plan games for the kids. So he did, but the adults got into them a lot more than the kids did!

We are so thankful for the fellowship this group gives us!

Picnic-Style Christmas Eve Carol Service

….the way we do Christmas on the equator.

Christmas Day!

We hung out with good friends on Christmas Day. After years of making gingerbread houses from scratch, I decided this working mom couldn’t hack that this year. So we used crackers instead. Oh my goodness–so easy and just as much fun. I’m never going back to homemade.