Christmas. Still my favourite day of the year. It seems so long ago now. I wrote this a while ago too, but haven’t been to a high speed café to upload. - The holidays here came rather suddenly as there were few decorations or greetings leading up to the 25th of December. And, of course, no WishBook, though that traditional holiday marker may no longer be an apt indicator of the beginning of the holiday season - I believe it arrived at our house before I left Canada last September. The Coptic Christmas/Epiphany generates more attention here, and of course the Muslim Eid is the most celebrated holiday. My original intention was to work through the holiday season as I thought it might be easier to let it pass quietly, but as the holidays grew nearer it was clear that, for me at least, Christmas is not a holiday to be forgotten or ignored.
My holidays this year were certainly different. Nothing can compare to Christmas at home, but I did have a great long holiday weekend. I traveled to Tanta (between Cairo and Alexandria, NW of Aswan) with some international volunteers and Egyptians for some Christmas celebrations on the 23rd and 24th. We sang carols, exchanged small gifts, laughed and talked, and even had a turkey dinner with stuffing and Christmas cookies!