In Siteki the people know it’s Christmas. However, unlike back home, the hustle and bustle starts on the 24th… so did most of Siteki…the queues for the counters filled each aisle! Lucky we are living in ‘African time’ (African time = whatever time I can get there) so we found it humourous rather than annoying.
At night we gathered with our new friends at the ‘green shed’ (the communal shed on Mabuda Farm) for a carol service run by Dr Johnathon Pons and his family. It was lovely night. We were told to bring a candle, so we got organised and also bought metal candle holders. When we arrived it turns out we were the only ones with swishy candle holders. We were teased and laughed at. Apparently we were the only ones that got that memo! Everyone else had to endure upside down styrofoam lids that dripped candle wax on them. After singing, prayers and scripture reading we shared in some Christmas Eve dessert.
On Christmas Day, after wonderful family skype sessions, we headed off to the green shed again for lunch. Everyone contributed by making a salad. I was so excited to find the ingredients for chocolate balls the other day that I also made them and took Tim Tams too. Chris brought the coal to the shed in true African style for first Braai (BBQ African style). David (our new friend from Bermuda) did the cooking honours. The feast was amazing and we enjoyed chicken, beef, pork, and boerewors (african sausage). We also tried wildebeest boerewors for the very first time… Yum yum!
We stayed chatting and celebrating til late. As we came home we reflected that it had been one of our best Christmas days. We made new friends (some of whom we had just met that day), had great conversations and enjoyed a truly relaxing time… we appreciated the company, experiences and relationships.
We felt so blessed… our Christmas was very merry!
Ho! Ho! Ho!
