Christmas

In the short of things... my Christmas sucked!!! But on the bright side this is my last major holiday away from family and friends. There was a lot of food and other volunteers, but it just falls short of being home around the tree with a fire blazing in the background. The worse part is that I waited all day for a call from my family which never came. I went to bed feeling the saddest I had felt in a long time. My mother elected not to call because she had a fight with my older sister and she just did not know how to talk to me being as she was sooooo angry. Meanwhile I sat with my cell phone in my lap all night just waiting for her voice. I hate waiting!! Sitting around and waiting for people makes me angry and I can tell you that by the time I went to bed I had flames coming out of my ears.

Now for some good news. Marya is going to get married. She and Dustin will wait a few years to say the vows, but I am really excited for her. Laecee, pictured above, is also getting married. The picture is of her official proposal. She and CJ plan to marry this coming summer. It just seems that love is in the air.

COLD!

This is the cold season in Niger which last year did not seem that cold, but now I am freezing. As I write this post I am wearing a scarf and hiding under a blanket. Burrrrr!! This is also the season of bloody noses because the air is so dry. The heals of your feet crack because of the dryness. This is a nice season because you can sleep without sweating, but the dryness is murder on the body.

Spending the Christmas season in an almost all Muslim country is really strange. There are no twinkle lights, there are no fir trees, and there is no sense of holiday cheer. This makes the whole season almost slip by without too much notice. In the least I cannot wait to get back to the states for a huge over-exposed holiday season. Next year....