Christmas - Ktown style (Part 1)

I had a great Christmas in my new home with my new husband and friends from his family and school. Once we were off of school I found that the kitchen was the warmest place for me to hang out during the day. Heating homes here is not very easy, but keeping the oven on and the door closed while moving around the kitchen worked just fine. Of course I ended up with lots of cakes, cookies, and such, but most of it has now disappeared.

On Christmas Eve, I had one of my students and my husband's 2 youngest brothers come over to help me bake and decorate sugar cookies. I made everything from scratch this year (including the icing). I must admit that it took a lot longer than just dumping cookie mix into a bowl and adding an egg and some oil, but it gave more fulfillment.

I love noticing some of the unique things while cooking here, such as... softening butter over my teapot, crushing the sugar a bit because the crystals are bigger than in the States and don't quite dissolve as well, warming a bowl before you use it so your melted margarine will not re-solidify, and then there's always your fingers going numb as you are chopping something. However, whatever challenges have come up, He has been faithful to give me a sense of humor about them and a grateful attitude about all we have that so many others do not have: running water inside, plenty of food, a vehicle to go shopping all over town for that "one" special ingredient, a husband who loves to help in the kitchen and is always grateful and complimentary of what I make, a house of our own, and a Father who gives an eternal hope and joy.

For Christmas Eve evening, we had Kh's family over (about 16 of us in all). I ventured out and made a mix of ethnic and American food, and then Kh's mom brought rice and his aunt brought fried fish. Oh, here's an interesting bit of food culture...We really only eat fish in the fall/winter because of the whole freshness issue, and when fish is eaten here, it is not with hushpuppies but with a VERY sweet and syrup-laded funnel cake called julabi. We had a great time with family and read the seasonal story in English and the local language.

Kh's sister is GREAT. She's 21 and the biggest servant that I've ever met. She came early to help me clean veggies, chop them, and advise me on how to be a good hostess. She also refused to leave until she had helped me clean all the dishes. The last time she came over with her family for dinner, our pipes froze and our water pump burned out, so we couldn't do dishes that night. She offered to pack up all the dishes and take them to their house to wash them. Of course I refused, but I was overcome by her concern about the dishes. (We did get our pipes and pump fixed within 3 days or so)

Oh yeah, I almost left off a very special part of Christmas Eve. It began to snow. It was the 3rd snow so far this winter and by far the heaviest. Overall, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we got a total of around 14 inches. We still have most of it left as 3 inches of ice. Well, I have more snow and ice stories to come, but I'll stop here for now. Hope your holidays were GREAT.