The story of my famil’s Christmas celebration
In our famil we kill the fatted sheep on Christmas Eve. Then my Ama begins to prep all of the food that she will be serving over the next 24 hours. She had already begun to prep by making fried peanut butter cookie things a day earlier. When I got home from the American Christmas Eve bash it was already late and normally everyone would be asleep inside their huts but tonight was the big night before Christmas and Ama and Clarice were still up cooking up a storm. So I sat down with them to watch and talk. They gave me my supper which was my portion of the sheep innards. I think I definitely did not like it and I only ate a small, small part and I couldn’t bring myself to touch the heart.
There were so many pots full of cooking meat, rice and tea. It was all in preparation for the following day – Christmas! Ama had to get a lot of it done then so that she would have time to go to the Christmas morning Mass at the Catholic church she attends fairly regularly. It was nice to sit next to the fire and talk with just Ama and Clarice. They both work so hard to make sure the famil is full and comfortable. While we were sitting there I painted my toes! They had bought polish in the market for Christmas and I figured I could paint my toes because I was going out to Cameroon and no one would see my feet. Then I painted Clarice’s toes and only her left hand because her right hand must stay clean because it is the hand she eats with. It was nice and fun for me to paint toes again!
Rise and shine! Joyeux Noël!!
I love Christmas even more each time I experience it from another cultures perspective. For our famil we spent the morning eating some good rice with lamb (although I was at my maximum capacity for meat) and beignets (yummy donut holes) that I was supposed to dip in the juice from the sauce of meat. And I had tea and cookies! Then after the food was eaten up we spent a lot of time passing out food to a lot of other families. The put rice and then meat sauce on top and the kids would go to the different people’s houses. I went with Clarice to give it to the lady who sits next to Ama at the market. That is the gift they give to their neighbors, they told me that in Fianga, the village they are from, everyone does this. There were even the neighbor kids who came over and we gave a big bowl of food to. I ended up giving my kids gifts all day long, in the early morning I gave my kids along with all the other kids there candy and balloons. Then later on I gave only my kids some really good candy along with the gifts I had been storing up for them. I gave them toy cars, paint set, calendars and crayons with a new coloring book. I gave Mature new tooth brushes and tooth paste and for Ama I gave her chap stick and chocolate. I am hoping to get more for them so we can celebrate birthdays American style :o) It was all about giving to others that morning. I loved it, and I loved my famil even more for watching them give of themselves. When Ama got back from Mass Liz had come over to visit and see the changes I have done to my garden (yes, I am farmer Jane now :o) and to talk about what we were packing to take to Cameroon. While Liz was in my hut Twi brought us two HUGE goblets of hibiscus tea that she had made the night before along with the tasty fried cookies! We were very excited about the largeness of the goblets, then when we thought things couldn’t get any better Twi brought us a plate heaping full of salad! Yes folks, a huge green salad with African croutons (beignets torn into smaller pieces). It was so magical that it had to have been Christmas. Liz and I just sat there dumbfounded for awhile. Then when we ate in between each bite we exclaimed how wonderful it was and how lucky we were to be eating it. That about sums up the greatness of Christmas in my hut.
There were so many pots full of cooking meat, rice and tea. It was all in preparation for the following day – Christmas! Ama had to get a lot of it done then so that she would have time to go to the Christmas morning Mass at the Catholic church she attends fairly regularly. It was nice to sit next to the fire and talk with just Ama and Clarice. They both work so hard to make sure the famil is full and comfortable. While we were sitting there I painted my toes! They had bought polish in the market for Christmas and I figured I could paint my toes because I was going out to Cameroon and no one would see my feet. Then I painted Clarice’s toes and only her left hand because her right hand must stay clean because it is the hand she eats with. It was nice and fun for me to paint toes again!
Rise and shine! Joyeux Noël!!
I love Christmas even more each time I experience it from another cultures perspective. For our famil we spent the morning eating some good rice with lamb (although I was at my maximum capacity for meat) and beignets (yummy donut holes) that I was supposed to dip in the juice from the sauce of meat. And I had tea and cookies! Then after the food was eaten up we spent a lot of time passing out food to a lot of other families. The put rice and then meat sauce on top and the kids would go to the different people’s houses. I went with Clarice to give it to the lady who sits next to Ama at the market. That is the gift they give to their neighbors, they told me that in Fianga, the village they are from, everyone does this. There were even the neighbor kids who came over and we gave a big bowl of food to. I ended up giving my kids gifts all day long, in the early morning I gave my kids along with all the other kids there candy and balloons. Then later on I gave only my kids some really good candy along with the gifts I had been storing up for them. I gave them toy cars, paint set, calendars and crayons with a new coloring book. I gave Mature new tooth brushes and tooth paste and for Ama I gave her chap stick and chocolate. I am hoping to get more for them so we can celebrate birthdays American style :o) It was all about giving to others that morning. I loved it, and I loved my famil even more for watching them give of themselves. When Ama got back from Mass Liz had come over to visit and see the changes I have done to my garden (yes, I am farmer Jane now :o) and to talk about what we were packing to take to Cameroon. While Liz was in my hut Twi brought us two HUGE goblets of hibiscus tea that she had made the night before along with the tasty fried cookies! We were very excited about the largeness of the goblets, then when we thought things couldn’t get any better Twi brought us a plate heaping full of salad! Yes folks, a huge green salad with African croutons (beignets torn into smaller pieces). It was so magical that it had to have been Christmas. Liz and I just sat there dumbfounded for awhile. Then when we ate in between each bite we exclaimed how wonderful it was and how lucky we were to be eating it. That about sums up the greatness of Christmas in my hut.
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