Note: written on December 17th:

The Pierce family has a tradition of decorating for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend and this year was no exception.  Before we headed for Jinja and the Nile two weeks ago we decked the house out.

So we returned on Tuesday very late to a Christmassy home.  Unfortunately we also returned to such a large rats nest inside the stove that the whole house smelled like rat. Yuk.  My houseworker had also decided not to sweep at all during our time away since she “didn’t like her broom” so my floors were covered with dead lizards and various poops.  A biologists dream, perhaps, but a mom’s nightmare.  I swallowed hard, changed sheets on beds and tucked us all in for the night.  The next morning I turned on my oven to bake biscuits having forgotten about the rats and baked a lot of rat urine onto all the stove surfaces filling the home with an even more unpleasant odor of rat.  Double yuk.  We got that cleaned up just in time for me to start a large kitchen fire.  My heating oil overheated and burst into five feet of flames while I went out back to gather clean dishes from our outside drying rack.  The black sooty walls are still there as a reminder – “don’t walk away from hot oil!”  Thanks to Quinn for saving the day with his tremulous cries of, ” Mom!!”

Of course visitors were abundant, unpacking was, as usual, unpleasant, and the kids were ready for all their favorite home cooked foods and breads on the double.  It’s been a busy last few days as we have swung back into work mode and into Christmas mode.  I’m being a full time mom right now and hoping that my work will save but David continues at the office, plowing through.

Our last two Christmases have been a bit funny so this is the first time in a few years that we have nested prior to Christmas in our own home.  Yes, we have given away almost all of our things by now, including all the non-essential Christmas items.  But that doesn’t mean our Christmas lacks ANYTHING.  Wednesday we took a trip to the upper CSB farm with Alex, our manager, to cut our own Christmas tree, a little pine that was being grown for timber.  It’s sweet, feathery and beautiful.  Traditionally we hand make our ornaments each year choosing a theme: one year stars, one year gingerbread.  This year our theme is angels and we are having fun designing them with wire, cloth, shells, etc.  We also hand make new stars each year for the top of the tree and this year we used colorful feathers to do so.  It’s a bit over the top but it makes us all happy.

Several close staff friends have stayed around for the holiday and one even brought her family back with her to the district for Christmas, so we have children’s company as we cut enough snowflakes to skii on and hang them all over the house,  decorate gingerbread cookies to feed the whole neighborhood  and work on bottle top crafts.  It’s been a blast.  I’m getting to know one of my dear Ugandan friend’s oldest son, and he is delightful.  Naomi and Quinn have their special friend Ephraim back and we are about to welcome Amina into our home for the holiday as she returns from her exams in the city.  Christmas with friends, what could be better.

This year I rejoice in Christmas music, Christmas smells and tastes, Christmas traditions.  I am so thankful that we did not leave Uganda at the end of the school year but that we are still here for another six weeks, gathering precious memories which we will never lose.  I have little sadness left about leaving but I am savoring the days, the friends, the experiences.  Something new is around the corner but for now, here we are: Living, Loving, Learning  . . . .