Well, Christmas is almost here and one thing we are certain of is that there will be no white Christmas here! Our family maintains some of the English traditions Mark & I grew up with and have developed a few family traditions of our own. While childhood memories of chilly Christmas days of ten feature a red robin on a snow covered branch, Liberia has it's own Christmas bird. The white egrets pass by our home for a few weeks at this time of year.We have our artificial tree that has travelled the world with us, containing ornaments reminding us of many friends and places. It's a small part of family and friends with us.
Here in Liberia the locals decorate their yards by painting the rocks, trees and road ways white with Christmas greetings!
As a family we celebrate advent by lighting a candle during dinner and find some good advent readings to read together at the end of our meal.
Despite the heat of Africa, we usually still have a full roast meal on Christmas Day. I always make a Christmas cake, mince pies and Christmas pudding (usually bringing essential ingredients back from UK with us) and get excited about various other edible treats we manage to find in the local supermarkets. This year we discovered treats from two well known UK supermarkets!!
Since, fresh veggies are so expensive here in Liberia we also treat ourselves to some imported favourites...this selection cost us £27.
Most of all we look forward to having time to spend as a family, relaxing on the beach and spending time focusing on Jesus, God's most precious gift.
