Christmas is coming!

I love Christmas. I think it's one of the best things ever. Slowly over the past several months I have been sneaking Christmas in; watching the movies, listening to the music, thinking and planning different parties or ideas of things we could do this Christmas. And now, it's almost here. It's almost time for the parties to start and there is so much work to do.

We're having Christmas at Jeevit's House on December 18^th. It will be our second Christmas here and I am excited. Last year we introduced most of our village to what Christmas is all about. I remember a few of the girls in our village were asking for a few weeks ahead of time when our next party was. They were excited when they heard that it was going to be Jesus' birthday party. It took a little explaining to help them understand that while he would be there he wouldn't be there and both were real enough. The day of the party came along though and several of the kids came early. They wanted to show me the little boxes they had bought all wrapped in shiny paper with bows on top. They then had to go home to put their presents inside them. They were bringing presents for Jesus.

And so our party started and child after child came and handed me a little box filled with treasure. There were many, many people at the party and I think everything went well.

That night after everything was cleaned up and the house was quiet again I sat down and opened Jesus' birthday presents.

He received:
1 bracelet
1 cookie
3 crackers
9 chips
2 little bowls
2 combs
2 rings
1 pen
6 foam letters
5 jelly candies
5 flowers
2 clay figurines
3 fake flower pots
27 pieces of candy
46 little toy game pieces
7 notes
and some instant noodle crumbs.

And each of those presents is the best. I love the heart of children (and Christmas.)