Happy Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! 

This was my first Christmas away from home and I definitely missed a few things about Christmas in Ohio, especially snow, my beautifully decorated house, and of course, spending time with my family. It was also my first New Year's celebration away from home and I definitely missed dressing up with my closest friends and counting down to ring in the new year, but they have their own ways here in South Africa, and what a blessing it was to get to share this wonderful time of year with the people I have come to consider my family just as well. 

Our Christmas Holiday started off with a week of summer camp!...I know, weird, right? I had a lovely time at camp and it definitely got me in to the summer spirit (see my last blog post for more!) When we arrived back in Eston it was just Rae, Garth, the girls, and me left on the farm. There were only a few decorations around the house, so we cut down two little pine trees and tied them together so that it was a little more full. We decorated this tree with popcorn garland made by the girls and myself, pine cones that had been painted with a bit of white, a string of lights, and paper ornaments made from hymn music sent to me by Jane Weaver (Thanks so much!). It was a gorgeous natural tree, that made me feel a bit more at home, since we have about 14 Christmas trees each year at my home in Bluffton! 

South African Christmas Tree

Christmas shopping had yet to be done by the Hawyes family, so we all (minus Donovan) packed into the  bakkie (pick-up truck) and headed for the mall. I had already done all my Christmas shopping, mostly items sent from overseas. So I took Olivia and Shauna around the mall to spend their pocket money to buy gifts for their family and their Secret Santa cousin/aunt. Rae and Garth went off in the opposite direction to do the same. It was such a blast to teach the girls different aspects of shopping, sales, brands, gift cards, and helping them to make decisions and keep them under budget! They have such big hearts they each spent almost all of their money! But they didn't mind, they were so excited to be able to buy gifts for everyone, including me! When we got home we wrapped all the gifts and put them under the tree. All the different colored paper and many many gifts just made the tree and house look very happy, and like home :) 

Several days before Christmas we met up with Garth's side of the family for a long Braai and chill evening to celebrate Christmas together as a family, it was so nice to finally meet the whole family, they welcomed me with open arms and a whole lot of food! Two nights before Christmas Rae's side of the family came over to the farm and we all swam in the dam and had a braai and also just had a lovely evening. On Christmas Eve just our family was together for the day. It was so lovely to relax and reflect on the season. That evening we went to a little Anglican Church for a Christmas Eve service...it was very nice to sing hymns together with a group of people, but man was it a long service! Just before we all turned in for the night I read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to everyone, my own storybook from home, sent to me by my ever forward thinking Mom who had mailed it two months in advance and it had arrived in SA four days before Christmas!

Shauna and Olivia hearing "The Night Before Christmas"
for the first time

Christmas morning started at 5:30AM thanks to the little munchkins in the house. We all gathered in the living room, Olivia read out everyone's favorite bible versus, that she had collected the day before and then Rae read out the Nativity Story. We all prayed together to give the day to the Lord. It was such a beautiful time to dedicate the day to God. Presents are all good and well, but without the right heart, what's the point other than being a bit selfish? It felt good to center ourselves before we enjoyed everyone's generosity. We opened our gifts from one another, in no particular order, and it was a hoot! I was so unbelievably blessed having two families who had gifts for me, I was quite spoiled I must say. 

All of my Christmas blessings!

Shortly after, Rae's family arrived again, there was wild warthog and Lamb from our farm for Christmas lunch, which was divine! We did the Secret Santa Exchange; Rae's family was ashamed they forgot to include me and so I got two gifts from concerned family members! I told you, utterly blessed.

Rae's Brother and his family live in Johannesburg so they stayed for the next three days on the farm with their four kids, it was so fun to have so many little ones around!  All in all, I had a wonderful Christmas full of love, family, the Holy Spirit, and fun <3

I got Rae Dutch Blitz for Christmas
We taught the whole family and it
was a blast!

One week later was New Year's Eve. Camp El Olam hosted a New Years Bash! So there were a lot of people around. We went for a swim in the morning, hung out in the afternoon, and later in the evening we braaied...as usual! We had a big bonfire and many of the friends I have made while here were there, so I had plenty of company. At 11:30 PM we all gathered around the fire and gave testimonies of the year gone by. It was so lovely to hear how God was working in people's lives in 2016. We closed our time with prayer and prayed our way right in to 2017! 

New Year's Bonfire

Everyone was very tired but there was one last thing that had to be done before I could sleep...go for a summer new years swim (the polar bear challenge)! All the young adults piled in the back of the bakkie and we drove (very fast) down to the dam...I thought everyone was going to jump...turns out they all just wanted to watch me do it! There were like four of us that jumped in. The water actually felt really good, since it had been warm the few days before. We drove back to camp and I very promptly went to sleep. Happy New Year!

Jumping off the diving pole on New Years Day at 1:00AM

Thank you so much for all of the Holiday wishes, cards, messages, and gifts. It made being away from home that much easier. Thanks for reading this long post! Keep even more up to date with my facebook and instagram accounts!