Ella's First Christmas

Our Christmas day was a good one. We opened presents in the morning, then went outside and “helped” Gifts sisters and a few other relatives with lunch preparations. When you’re cooking over wood and charcoal and have to butcher the chickens, you start pretty early ;). Prossy gave a 101 class on proper matooke preparation (Matooke is not the staple or common food for the folks in the north of the country, like it is for the people in the south) and Ella got over her fear of chickens (by watching them being chopped up and playing with the feat). Then, still smelling rather smoky, we changed clothes and went to church, which was mercifully quite short compared to most Ugandan services. Considering the fact that I was sitting on a wooden bench with a 36.5 pound child snoozing on my lap, I almost could have kissed the British preacher who didn’t get long winded up there in the pulpit. 2 + hour services are not my cup of tea, heathen that I am…

We were able to get fuel before we went home and since L had been snacking on peanuts the whole time, she was able to promptly take a nap and was in fine, rested and cheerful form by the time the food was ready at around 3 pm. She was cause for great entertainment when she was downing 300 mls of Coke and some of it came out her nose J. It was a small gathering, in Ugandan terms anyway, as Gifts sister, her husband and children, and a few more brothers and their families and some other relatives trickled in throughout the rest of the afternoon. Since Ella had had 300 mls of Coke she was on a high driving her Tonka truck around in fast forward. She didn’t play with the other children there much because none of them spoke English and well, Ella is the type of kid that really likes to communicate. And no, children do not speak a common language.

A momentous (but not so happy) event that also happened Christmas day was my right ear getting totally clogged up and up until the time of this posting, I still can’t hear anything out of it! I do okay around other loud Americans but have some difficulty around soft spoken Ugandans, anyone else who isn’t as loud as me, and chattering little children with their high little voices.

Opening Presents

Prossy and Baby James

Matooke Cooking 101

Chickens

Singeing off the pin feathers over a charcoal jico

Helping Winnie pluck the pin feathers

Chicken feet! Great toys : )

Prossy chopping apart the chickens

The mother hen and her brood, interested in the goings on

Hmm. I wonder...

Their turn is next year!

Cooking and other food prep

Winnie squeezing lemons and Ella playing with her chicken feet

Beef

Hauling wood for the fire

Eating and Recreational Activities

Ready for church (red tights and shoes compliments of her Aunt Becky :)

Ella and Prossy in the midst of a game of bad mitten

Relatives of Gifts. The little girl is deaf and mute but what a smiler!

Ella and her favorite baby ever – James cousin, Angel