Christmas Preparations in Malawi
It is difficult to think that in just a few days it will be Christmas. When you think of Christmas many things usually come to mind. Hopefully the most important is to remember that Jesus, God in flesh, came to earth as a baby, born in the humblest of settings, a manager so that he could live and die for our sins. There are so many other things that make Christmas well Christmas. Our family thinks of Christmas time as snow, warming up by the fireplace, family, decorations, singing Christmas carols in English, thinking of ways to give to the needy, making the foods our mothers made and … I think you get the picture. This year in Malawi, we have none of those things except each other and Jesus. Instead, we have to examine what Christmas really means to us. Sadly, I am having a difficult time as I don’t believe that I ever really celebrated Christmas with my mind truly on Jesus. I was too busy decorating, rushing to the stores and being kept busy with a multitude of things. We say, “He is the Reason for the Season” and many other wonderful things but how many of us really live it and believe it. What would Christmas mean to you if you had none of the familiar things that make Christmas for you? I am not meaning to condemn as I believe that I have failed that test myself. I don’t believe that there is anything wrong with all the things we do at Christmas as long as we don’t forget the true meaning of it.
Since I still believe that family time and memories are important we starting searching for ways that we could celebrate Christmas in a simpler way. It is difficult to find basic craft supplies here so it was a challenge. I had brought a lot of construction paper so out came the scissors and stapler to make paper chains and snow flakes. We scrounged around for cardboard and cut out stars and I even found some gold spray paint in town so we sprayed them gold. We were planning to just hang them around the house but one afternoon we drove by a shop that sold fake Christmas trees. The kids all begged for us to buy one so we have a pathetic little tree, but it is beautiful to us. The store even had lights so we bought a string of those too.
When my nannies saw our tree they were so delighted and said that they cut down fir limbs and wrap them together with string for a tree. The next day they brought a “Malawian” tree and I bought lights for it too. You should have seen the delight in their eyes and all commented on how beautiful it was. When they saw the ornaments that we had made they were awestruck. I told them if they wanted to come the next day we would have an ornament making party and they could make some for the nursery tree and take a few home. I had 5 ladies making ornaments in the garage and I finally had to tell them to stop as their paper chains were getting longer and longer. Each lady took home a paper chain and a few ornaments and we had a few left for our tree in the nursery. It sounds so simple to us but these ladies would never spend money on supplies for ornaments as all their money goes to feed their families. One lady asked how much the lights cost (1000 k or $7.00) and when I told her another lady said, “What a waste.” Remember that one string of lights would take 1/6th of her monthly salary. Just living and getting enough to eat is a struggle for these people.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Since I still believe that family time and memories are important we starting searching for ways that we could celebrate Christmas in a simpler way. It is difficult to find basic craft supplies here so it was a challenge. I had brought a lot of construction paper so out came the scissors and stapler to make paper chains and snow flakes. We scrounged around for cardboard and cut out stars and I even found some gold spray paint in town so we sprayed them gold. We were planning to just hang them around the house but one afternoon we drove by a shop that sold fake Christmas trees. The kids all begged for us to buy one so we have a pathetic little tree, but it is beautiful to us. The store even had lights so we bought a string of those too.
When my nannies saw our tree they were so delighted and said that they cut down fir limbs and wrap them together with string for a tree. The next day they brought a “Malawian” tree and I bought lights for it too. You should have seen the delight in their eyes and all commented on how beautiful it was. When they saw the ornaments that we had made they were awestruck. I told them if they wanted to come the next day we would have an ornament making party and they could make some for the nursery tree and take a few home. I had 5 ladies making ornaments in the garage and I finally had to tell them to stop as their paper chains were getting longer and longer. Each lady took home a paper chain and a few ornaments and we had a few left for our tree in the nursery. It sounds so simple to us but these ladies would never spend money on supplies for ornaments as all their money goes to feed their families. One lady asked how much the lights cost (1000 k or $7.00) and when I told her another lady said, “What a waste.” Remember that one string of lights would take 1/6th of her monthly salary. Just living and getting enough to eat is a struggle for these people.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
posted by Langdon Family at 3:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home