What a gift it has been to have the opportunity to spend a Christmas in Kenya. While the familiarities were far away, we were exposed to a refreshed look at what Christmas is all about. Although a few of the shopping centers have Christmas Lights and Santa sessions, the lack of commercialism that we associate with the season would have made it easy to pass December 25 without noticing. A few things that we learned along the way...
Although our songs about winter and snow neglect it, Christmas comes during the summer for the entire southern hemisphere!
Gifts are not a universal norm around the holidays. It was incredibly freeing to not have to worry about gifts this year!
Movies are big in Kenya on Christmas Day...from 10 AM-1 AM the next day, you will find most Kenyans from Nairobi hovering around a television with food, friends and family.
Doors are open on Christmas Day...if you are not hosting the party, be ready to make the rounds visiting 4 or 5 homes throughout the day visiting with others.
Many people travel to their home villages at this time...although this year was slightly different as voters needed to stay in their home area until December 27 to cast their presidential vote.
There are very few Christmas Eve or Christmas Day church services.
Chicken and Chipati (a tasty version of a tortilla) are the staple foods for the holidays.
We joined some friends from Ontario for a Christmas lunch followed by a Kenyan feast at home in the evening. 30+ visitors came for some tasty eats, a movie or three and one last discussion on the elections 2 days before voters head to the booth.
We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and hope that you have had the opportunity to enjoy it with family and friends.
On a side note, it is interesting how we have tainted the Christmas story to be something that it is not. Jesus wasn't born in the Mayo Clinic, nor did he pretend to live as the part of our modern day population that lives on over $1 a day but perhaps, He came to bring hope for people whose world looks a bit more like this...
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