Christmas in Cameroon - Christmas in Yaounde

Laura and Greg arrived on Christmas Eve, in time to bring stocking stuffers. :) In the afternoon, we had a little Christmas party for Gladys, the woman who has been the "househelp" for my parents for the last 10 years, and her kids, Thierry and Rhonda, who is named after my Mom. Look at that grin on Rhonda!! What a cutie! Thierry is very psyched about his new sooccer ball, with his name already on it.
Gladys, Rhonda, and Thierry in front of the Christmas tree. We started out our family Christmas Eve with time to read the Christmas story, with Jessica's help. Then we lit the Advent wreath, again with Jessica's help. Casey lives to blow out candles, and it takes a lot of convincing for him to allow them to stay lit! We did a Christmas craft - making sheep out of marshmallows and stick pretzels - here's our collection of marshmallow sheep! And plenty of food! I think we were trying to finish it for the next week, and the dog ended up getting a lot of treats! The Christmas tree - between the stuff Paul and Christy had been buying from sales of other missionary families, and what aunts and uncles brought, the base of the tree was drowning in presents!! The requisite pictures in front of the tree - first, Grandma and Grandpa.Ed and Julie

Paul, Christy, Jessica, and Casey

Laura and Greg

And the whole family! It was so special to be all together, and to get a taste of what Christmases together may be like in the future. Though we're definitely all human, my family is such an incredible blessing! (If you guessed, this was taken at the end of the day, and Casey was out cold!) I got to play Santa - with all the presents under the tree, Santa had a lot of work! My parents discovering some DVDs Ed and I brought for them. Paul with a new Cameroonian shirt big enough for him!
Casey opening yet another box of toy trains - it actually took Casey the rest of the week to finish opening his presents. Every time he opened a present, he would run back to his room with it to play with it!Christy and my Dad showing off their new trowelsJessica happily unearthing the contents of her stockingA crown for Princess Jessicaand a matching Cinderella dress! Laura and Greg clowning around with the dollar bill chocolate bars