christmas traditions

I think this is the fifth Christmas I’ve been away from home; on a submarine in my former life, skiing with two young boys who had so much fun in the snow and three times now in the heat.  The first was when we all went to Oman, so ostentatious.  The second on my own in Haiti (Christmas Day mass was almost 3 hours) and now alone in Uganda.  I’m here more or less of my own volition; HHA did offer to send me home, but it’s actually 2 days travel back to the UK and then three days back to the Settlement.  Difficult to justify.

Christmas Eve, I head into town to check on the Mass time (7 am, and it’s a half hour drive) and grab a table at the only place to eat with confidence (in terms of food hygiene), for some protein and a cheeky beer.

In Oman, we were serenaded by a roving trio of musicians on Christmas Day, whom I remember vividly playing Elvis Presley numbers.  Haiti was quiet because I chose it to be, alone and in the Compound, though ‘Alexa’ did find some Christmassy music for me.  Here, where they really do like music, and the louder and longer (later in the night) the better, the DJ is warming up for ‘the big day’ with some sort of traditional-Ugandan classic-Christmas fusion set (to himself; the few patrons here are watching the soccer on TV). 

But who did he find time for? None other than the Bublé!

Kept in suspended animation for 11 months of the year, let loose for a few weeks and here in Uganda too!

“It (really is) beginning to feel a lot like Christmas”.