Shelly Sharman in Uganda: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Uganda

Well, Christmas 2012 has come and gone. Christmas in Uganda is slightly different from that of the U.S. as holidays are not very commercialized here, so you have to keep reminding yourself that Christmas is on it's way. The major (I use that word loosely) shopping centers here had everything all decked out with trees and blow up Santas, but outside of that, you really do not see any decorations. I attribute this to the fact that a very small percentage of the population actually has expendable money for decor, or electricity for lights and blow ups. Although we always have power, we spend many hours per day on generator. We are so fortunate to have the generator, as not too many people do. So, we put up a tree, hung some cute balls on it, wrapped a tree skirt, threw two Christmas themed pillows on the sofas, and called it Christmas!

We enjoyed spending a few evenings through the week with friends. We even decorated a gingerbread house with a some friends that have a tradition of hosting a gingerbread house decorating dinner party. Unfortunately, I did not know this in time to order a prefab kit, therefore I had to make dough, roll it out, print and cut a pattern, and hope for the best. Our roof was not well thought out, and ended up being a little improvised. All and all it was a good time.

Santa did make his way to Uganda, and put a few gifts under the tree. Honestly, the urge to self indulge here is easy to resist. There are not a lot of places to shop for what you would want. Mail service is good for us, but you have to plan well in advance, and since we do not get any real commercials, the ideas for spending your hard earned money just isn't there. It's quite nice actually.

Don and I ordered each other a small furniture item that will be hand made. Very inexpensive, very basic, very African. Something to remind us of our Ugandan Christmas. Unfortunately, the power in our area has been out, meaning the saws could not be run, and our furniture did not get ready in time. This is really not an issue. You learn to live on Uganda time, which is "you get it when you get it". I'll post pics when the furniture arrives, and I return from the states. I will be visiting soon, and I am very excited to see everyone.

The gift that I have most enjoyed was my gift of volunteering. Savannah, me, and some friends volunteered on Christmas eve at a babies orphanage. The staff gets short during the holidays, so the Momma's were so happy to have some help. We played with he babies, helped with laundry, bed making, and feeding. Lots of fun to see those smiling faces. I hope to do a lot more volunteering when I return. There is plenty of need here, so I'm sure I'll stay busy.

So, with Christmas compete, I'm looking forward to another great new year. I can't believe that we have already been here for 5 months. It's already time for me to go home for a quick work visit, and when I come back it won't be long before planning starts for the summer visit.

Time has really passed by quickly. There are days when I am ready to head home, and days when I feel like I can stay forever. We are already a quarter of the way finished with our current tour, and no matter how much I miss home, I know that our job here is not done. I know this is were we belong, for now. So, here's to the new year, 2013!

Since it's been forever since I posted, I am posting some fun snapshots from our last couple of weeks. See you in 2013.