Christmas Activities

Merry Christmas! Celebrating Christmas in another country has been a similar experience, yet different. First of all, Uganda is heading into their dry season, which means that the weather is getting hotter all the time (not your typical Christmas weather). That makes it especially strange to me to see Christmas trees and blow up Santas being sold by street vendors as we are driving around. Some stores are playing Christmas music and selling the typical Christmas decorations: lights, tinsel, ornaments, etc. The selection is notably scaled down from what you’d find in the States.

At my house, my roommates and I have put together our own Christmas trees. One was more a Christmas bush, the other is kind of like a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, but they’ve got character!



The Christmas Bush






Charlie Brown Tree







I’ve been part of several Christmas celebrations over the past week: Children of Hope Christmas party with the kids, COH staff Christmas party, and the Kampala WorldVenture missionary Christmas party.

At our Christmas party with the kids of Children of Hope, we helped decorate the church. Ugandans like lots of color in their decorations…and we definitely made the church colorful!











I also baked 4 dozen sugar cookies for the kids to decorate and eat. When we were telling the kids what to do, we discovered that they had never decorated Christmas cookies before! It was fun watching them pile frosting on and get creative with how they decorated.






At our staff Christmas party we sang Christmas carols, played a game, and ate a ton of food! I always like hanging out with everyone outside of the office. It gives us a chance to connect on a different level and enjoy each other’s company.

The highlight of the WorldVenture missionary gathering was decorating Christmas cookies. Each person drew a name out of a bowl and then had to decorate their cookie to look like that person! It was quite entertaining!


Here is me with my cookie look-a-like.




We also played some games, sang carols, ate food, and watched, It’s a Wonderful Life.

On Christmas, I went over to a friend's house for breakfast, and then I attended a Christmas service at church. Afterwards, I spent time with my roommates and other friends. We made a ham dinner (quite a feat I'd say!). We opened presents, and had a nice time just being together. I also got to talk with my family in the evening.


Holly, Jonathan, Catharine, Kate, Megan, and Phil


Being away from family has caused me to look closely at why we celebrate Christmas. As nice as it is to spend time with family and friends, sing songs, give & receive gifts, decorate like crazy, and eat a ton of food, it truly is about the birth of Christ. God valued humanity so highly that He came to earth as a baby—to experience life as a human. His time on earth, culminating in His death and resurrection, made it possible for us to have a relationship with God. On Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus was given to us by God—such a supreme act of love and provision of hope. I pray that the peace and joy of the Lord may fill you on this special day!