Christmas Box

In the old days of missions, Missionaries left their homes, if not for a lifetime, at least for long years. Travel took months instead of a really long day and the lands they moved to were completely foreign with not much available from home. Churches in those days used to gather up new and used items from home and send a box or usually a "missionary barrel" out to the folks on the field. These days missionaries usually return home every 3-4 years and it is not unusual for them to jet set back and forth to their home country in between times. We have many American products imported. Even so, our family at home wanted to send the kids Christmas gifts. This actually worked out well since Will wants Star Wars legos and legos are not sold here. (shh-Don't tell him what he's getting) So last week, Santa came a little early. 7 weeks before, my parents had shipped out a box filled with gifts and the "cracks" were filled with things that we are missing from home and can't get here. Two such things were cans of green beans and cans of green chilis. Em loves canned green beans and they are not to be found in the stores or market. Allan and I love Mexican food and while we can find other products we requested some green chilis to make some special dishes we love. Other items of note that we recieved were: decaf coffee, pecans, ink for our printer, and the ingredients to make my Aunt Linda's Brunswick stew. We have had a great time with all the little surprise extras the family stuck in and the kids are anxiously awaiting Christmas morning. It has made our first Christmas away from home a little more enjoyable. We have also enjoyed getting Christmas cards from home and some surprises from my best friend Amy. For years Emily, Will and I have watched "White Christmas". Our copy was VHS though and we left it in the US since VHS tapes don't survive here. Em was particularly distressed by this and so one of the surprises sent by Amy was truly a blessing for Emily. We gathered close tonight and watched and sang along with the DVD version of "White Christmas". The wind was blowing and with the fan turned on it was almost cold. The kids snuggled under a blanket, but Will did have to take off his shirt to be comfortable.

A Box full of gifts from home!

A pantry full of green beans and green chilis!

Christmas DVD's sent from my friend Amy!