The Mom who Saved Christmas!

We had such big plans for it this year.  After the last three years where we had basically not celebrated Christmas, we were going to go all out for it.  The plan had been to work very hard through the month of December, not go into Addis at all, and then celebrate big time.  We were going to go to Boston Days Spa for haircuts, go watch the new Star Wars movie, stay at our favorite hotel, and eat all the delicious foreign food that we wanted, ending in a fancy brunch at the Sheraton on Sunday that would included limitless champagne.  Granted, because of the fact that Christmas is celebrated about 2 weeks later here than it is in the rest of the world (see the post “Time, What is Time?” for an explanation), we would have to take a few days off of school for it, but we could hold a few classes to make up for missing those two days.  The point was that we really felt the need to celebrate this year, and it was going to be fantastic.

Unfortunately, due to some political issues in our region, we wound up spending the 10^th-23^rd in Addis.  Classes were cancelled during most of that time, but regardless it threw us badly off schedule.  When we were told that we could head back to site, most of the other PCVs decided to stay in Addis to celebrate the holiday together.  Still, we decided to forgo our plans and head back to Fitche, not able to stand the thought of missing even more school and putting our students even farther behind.  It was a really difficult choice, but in the end, we are really happy that we did it because…..

When I went to the post office on Christmas Eve, I was elated to find 3 care packages from my mom waiting for us, totaling about 60 pounds worth of goodies.  There were the normal foodstuffs that we have come to adore over the last year, but then there was something special in the 3^rd box; it was Christmas!  She sent us stockings, battery operated Christmas tree lights, little ornaments, and even a fabric tree that I pretty much started crying when I saw!  There were even little air-freshener sticks in the package, so now our little mud house smells like a spruce tree!

So, because of my mom, we got to have this for breakfast:

Kept up the family tradition of eating a Christmas Eve pizza:

Note: This is literally the 2^nd pizza I have made in my life, and Donovan, who normally won’t even look at a homemade pizza, declared it the best in country!

We got to decorate our home:

And we even got a bag full of mini candy canes to pass out to all our favorite students, faculty and friends here in Fitche:

It was extremely hard choosing to go back and forestall our plans, especially because we had been looking forward to them for so long.  Still, getting these things in the mail and spending our last Christmas in Ethiopia so happy and in such a festive state of mind felt like a reward for making the right decision.  I just want to say thanks again to my mom, Queen of the Care Package, for managing to mail us a box full of Christmas cheer!

~Jessie