This is my Christmas

For me Christmas started on Sunday the 23rd at my Christmas party for my Russian friends. I cooked a full Christmas dinner with ham and the works and invited six of my friends to come over. I cooked all morning and then I SMSed my closest friend and asked her if she knew how to get to my place. She wrote back and said she wasn’t coming and that she would explain later. Instantly my excitement plummeted. It was hard to get into the mood of having friends over when you feel slapped in the face. Olessa was the first to arrive and brought with her the news that Oksana wouldn’t be coming because she was sick. My little party was quickly dwindling. Masha and Katya arrived on time and then the conversation really got started. I SMSed Olya because she was late and she replied saying that she had been out of town and was on her way back to Krasnodar and would be late. So our little group decided to eat. We talked about what we were thankful for that the Lord had done in us and what we wanted to change this next year. Olya finally came about an hour late and I found out she had been on a business trip all week and had just arrived in town. We played games and had tea and by then people had to leave. Everyone was excited to meet Olya and they all invited her to our singles group this Saturday. She will come if she is not working. A half hour after she left my house she was heading out on another business trip for a week. That is a committed friend. That was a nice way to end the party.
Christmas Eve the adventure continued. I cooked in the morning and then made my way over to a friend’s house in the afternoon. On crowded public transportation, with a transfer, I carried a jello salad, hot rolls, two Christmas presents, and my clarinet. That was no easy task. Then in the evening we headed out to our big Christmas dinner with most of our team mates. We had a nice time of fun and fellowship together. I prepared something for the kids that we ended up not having time to do and I brought my clarinet for nothing because we ran out of time for carols. Again the good was mixed with the sad. I went home and sung Christmas carols by myself in front of the tree and cried.
Christmas morning my mom woke me up at 7:30AM. I talked with my family for 2:30 hours. They opened their presents and I enjoyed listening to there reactions. My father read the Christmas story and we all sang Silent Night. After they hung up I opened up my one present that I had received from Blythe’s mom. Thank you very much! Then I got ready for the day. I met Jerry and Don and we went to the post office hopeful but our hope was in vain for nothing had arrived. I spent the day with the Rundstrom family and Don. I cried when I first went into the kitchen with Kim and she just held me. I hate crying in public and soon composed myself. We played rook and started to put together a puzzle. Then we had our big Christmas dinner of turkey and the works. Kim is an amazing cook and we were all stuffed. We sat around and put together an entire 1,000 piece puzzle, well except for the sky of course. Then we had dessert and watched a movie. It was the next best thing to being with family. There was much joking from all directions.
Yesterday, Wednesday, I went to the Chinese circus. It was pretty much all acrobatic and interesting but also scary. There was one instance where I really thought someone was going to die. At the last minute he caught himself, it was all part of the show. The festivities ended at 2:00AM. I woke up to a very painful stomach. I spent the next two hours in the bathroom with diarrhea and vomiting. Eventually I crashed on my couch; I couldn’t lie on my bed comfortably.

That has been my holidays thus far. The good and bad are all mixed together and I am having a difficult time processing how I really feel. Am I sad or am I okay? I think I am both. Thanks for your prayers. For those of you who are wondering I didn’t get any of my packages though I hear five are on the way. I did get two Christmas cards from America.