Happy New Year! It's a big week here in Albania. In the days leading up to NYE the grocery stores have been packed and bored school boys have burned fire crackers at regular intervals. The acrid smell of fireworks hung in the air hours before the clock struck midnight and the sky REALLY lit up with fireworks and celebrations.
Everything is closed now and family and friends are making personal visits, pushing pause on life's regular demands. School won't resume until next Monday. Meanwhile, we Waggoners are preparing to take down the Christmas tree. But while the fire burns warmly, I will join my neighbors in pausing for a moment to procrastinate and enjoy one last hour by the tree and draft one more post for the blog before we put the holiday decorations up in storage for another year.
As I scan my photos for December, I see that some noteworthy events transpired that have yet to be posted... Get ready for a real assortment of highlights from last month!
Earlier in the month we were pleased to host our friends Len and Lynne Benson again. They come each year and are a tremendous help with the Christmas Bazaar at the Sheraton.
It's hard to explain how nice it is to have friends who come repeatedly and know our co-workers and the folks we serve. I think you can tell in the photo the kids were glad to welcome guests they know and remember too!
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This fall Nathan and I stepped out into a new area for us -- teaching conversational English. Our first group was huge. Like, really too big for what we had in mind. Due to variety of factors (primarily a lack of transportation on the day of the week we meet), our group turned into this little friends circle of 11-year old girls. They are absolutely delightful and faithful to come each week. I love getting to know them a little bit better each time we get together and can't wait to see where this goes.
Once every 5 or 6 weeks Reni and Nathan have their 'guy' time and get hair cuts in Maminas. Reni definitely prefers one of the "berber"s over the other and last time requested we start buying his hair gel at the shop because he preferred the scent, ha ha. All I can say is that Reni never looks more Albanian than when he comes home from the berber with his hair styled (and smelling like cologne). Nathan caught this image on his phone a couple of weeks ago. He liked the shadow on the floor... I liked the glimpse into this men-only zone of which I've only heard about but never seen in person.
The 10th of December found us manning a table at the Sheraton Hotel selling knitted goods for the women in our www.HandmadeInAlbania.org project. It has turned into a fun social event for us as well with a plethora of homemade goodies for sale, face painting and Santa for the kids, and seeing lots of friends and acquaintances in the missionary and expat community, many of whom were also manning tables for their own projects and endeavors.
One night we had the fun surprise of gifting families from our church with scores of lightly-used quality shoes from Germany. Mandi brought us boxes upon boxes of shoes (from a warehouse in Tirana) which we sorted by size and set out on the table (there were a lot more before I snapped the photo below!). When the women arrived, we gave them plastic bags and told them to find shoes for themselves and anyone else in their family who might be able to use them! It was so much fun! One woman in particular had larger feet than everyone else who showed up that night. Fortunately for her, it appeared that her size was an average size for most Germans as she left with a very large, full sack of shoes that didn't fit anyone else but her!
Another highlight in December was getting to celebrate the birthday of their friend Caleb with a play date at his home in Tirana! This was a real treat for Ellie and Reni!
Another highlight was Ellie's involvement in her first piano recital! She played two duets with her teacher, Luli Alizoti. We were quite proud of her! She seemed cool as a cucumber!
The recital consisted of students and their teachers from all over central Albania.
Much of last month we enjoyed views of snow-covered mountains. They are especially a lovely shade of purple at sunset!
The kids bought each other Christmas gifts and enjoyed getting a gift-wrapping lesson from their Dad.
My birthday falls two days before Christmas. In the midst of all that is going on with Christmas programs, planning something for my birthday is rather low on my list. At the last minute I decided to have the youth over for popcorn and games. It was a lot of fun! And I discovered that chips and salsa are universally loved!
Eda brought me the amazing cream birthday cake below.
I don't know why, but I just love this image of the kids coming out to spy the gifts that appeared under the tree while they slept. Reni looks pretty pleased with the sight of his stocking, doesn't he?
Christmas morning, reading the Christmas story, huddled under blankets, waiting for the stove to warm up the room.
After Christmas we spent some much-needed family time laying low, but went out to see the new Star Wars movie. Or, as we say it in Albanian, Lufta e Yjeve (Loofta ay Ooyayvuh --War of Stars).
Reni bought Ellie a magic knitting loom for Christmas and with it she has mastered the art of knitting headbands. Her first recipient was our friend, Vera. I think everyone she knows would have a headband by now if she hadn't used up the three small skeins of yarn it came with.
For new year's eve Vera gifted the kids were their own pyrotechnics. They were quite excited.
Finally, as we prepared to put up the decorations for the next 11 months, it wasn't difficult for Ellie to feign a sad face. Sweet girl frequently told us all month that she couldn't wait for Christmas, yet she wanted to enjoy all the moments leading up to Christmas day. And when the big day finally arrived, she savored every moment and sought us out repeatedly to tell us what a good day it was for her. We are so blessed by her!
Thanks for tuning in and staying with this long post! Blessings on your 2018!
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