Remembering Christmas 2005

This was Christmas 2005, 4 months after moving to Cameroon and we had only been in our house in the rainforest for 2 months. Besides our leafy branches that we tied together to make a 'tree' (that had to be replaced every few days when they wilted) and decorated with the few ornaments that we had packed as well as some tissue paper circles to make a tree collage on the wall and green and red construction paper for the Christmas chain...what else do you really need to be festive? We also painted noodles to make a garland for our 'tree' hoping that no bugs would eat it, just the weevils that already came in the bag. Notice my sweat-glistened face...no snow this year! It was fun making new traditions and coming up with creative way to celebrate the birth of Christ.
It's hard for me to remember our kids being this little! We took a little girl, a toddler and a baby over with us in 2005!
That Christmas we gave out rice, salt, bouillon cubes and candy at the village to over 60 families. Also, Nestor and Samba, two Baka guys that were living next door to us, told the story of Jesus' birth from a picture book someone had given them. Doesn't this picture look so different from your church's Christmas service? We are glad to show our kids our American culture, but at the same time enjoy reminding them how simple life in Cameroon is and how we enjoyed it just as much because we were together as a family.