Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 has been a unique celebration for me. For the first time in 23 years, I had to spend Christmas away from my family. Maybe I like living abroad, maybe I don't mind spending birthdays away, but CHRISTMAS is supposed to be spent at home with Mom and Dad and Steph!!!! I was worried that I would be miserable all of Christmas, and let me tell you, I was miserable for a good chunk of Christmas Eve morning. However, thanks to the friendships I have in Morocco, the love I have in Egypt, the wonderfulness of my family, and my inability to stay depressed, I had a great Christmas.

Last week three of my very close Peace Corps friends and I celebrated Christmas together at my house. Since this is the second year in a row, perhaps I can say it is tradition! Here are a couple of our attempts to get a Santa hat on Chandler's head.

All of our moms sent some kind of fun Christmas surprise that we thoroughly enjoyed. Here we are opening our stockings from Mom!!

Now I am in Egypt, and I feel so lucky to be in such great company. Wael knew that it would be hard for me to spend Christmas away from my family, so he got a Christmas tree and lots of decorations that we put up the day I arrived.

Wael decorating his first Christmas tree.

Wearing one of the lovely sweater sets Mom and Dad sent me for Christmas! That night we went to a jazz club and enjoyed some live music.

I don't look at all awkward here...... :)

On Christmas Eve, Wael accompanied me to mass. We went early for Caroling, and by the time mass began, the church was packed. We are talking maybe 50-60 people outside listening because there was no more room in the church. It was a nice mass (in English) and it meant so much to me that Wael wanted to come with. After church, we went to the Nile Hilton to see The Rebound. It was a cute movie, and I was happy to go to a movie theater for the first time in 2 years!

On Christmas morning, Wael, his mom and I had a very pleasant gift exchange. Here is the Azza Fahmy ring that Wael gave me. She is a very famous Middle Eastern jewelry designer. I'm not sure if you can tell from the picture, but it is a white gold band with yellow gold arabic calligraphy. I love arabic calligraphy and I love my ring!

In the afternoon, Wael and i met some of his cousins for coffee. We enjoyed the great weather and hung out at this outdoor mall area all afternoon. Wael's cousins are all incredibly nice, and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with them! Santa Claus even made an appearance!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!