Love: Fourth Sunday of Advent

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
Love incarnate, love divine;
Worship we our Jesus:
But wherewith for sacred sign?

Love shall be our token,
Love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
Love for plea and gift and sign.

— Christina Rossetti

Winter holiday

We spent the past week at a local ski resort.


I took the kids out of school for the last week before Christmas and we drove up on Monday morning. It was a warm, rainy day – not great if you’re hoping to have good skiing. We arrived just before noon and settled into our accommodations, which were spacious and pleasant, though we did notice a small white mouse on the premises.

We had a good view of the ski hill from the dining/living room. (My parents, being used to the Rocky Mountains, said this reminded them of Rabbit Hill, a ski hill near Edmonton where my friends used to go as teens to get in some skiing that wasn’t a four-hour drive away. Nobody out there considered it anything special. For real skiing you had to go to the mountains.)

That afternoon, what with the rain, we mostly explored the grounds a bit and spent an hour or so in the swimming pool and hot tub. Tuesday morning was colder, but still we didn’t attempt skiing as I figured the conditions wouldn’t be great. The kids did some tobogganing on the lower slopes where the ski runs weren’t yet open, and we played some games and again made good use of the pool and hot tub.





Tuesday night it snowed, and the resort had been hard at work making snow, so Wednesday morning we got out to the hill fairly early and rented skis for the kids.


On the way there we saw a family of otters enjoying a dip and a feed at the little pond between the parking lot and the ski hill.








That day they stuck to the bunny hill and both of them practiced their balance and turns. Mustang, as usual, did just great. Button began the day just barrelling down the hill, but by the end of the day he, too, was doing better at turns and controlling his stopping so as to come to a halt right at the bottom of the lift.




Thursday was another day of skiing. The morning we stuck to the bunny hill again, but for the afternoon I figured both kids would appreciate (and be able to handle) a run down the real slopes. Seeing as neither Laolao, Laoye nor I ski, I just went up to the lift and asked a man skiing with his young daughter whether he would be willing to accompany the kids down the hill. He took them down twice, then as they wanted to do amore challenging run and I didn’t think Button would be quite up to it (he was game, but I figured he needed to have a bit better control first!), I asked two young Asian women I’d seen coming down the easy run. They took the kids down three times and by then it was almost time to return the rental skis.

Friday morning, after packing up, Laoye took the kids for one last swim before we headed home. All in all it was a good, relaxing pre-Christmas holiday that was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Food Friday: Ethiopian Chickpea Wat

Ingredients

• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, finely chopped (or coarsely grated)
• 1 potato, peeled and chopped
• ½ – 1 tsp berbere (or cayenne)
• 1 clove garlic
• 2cm fresh ginger, peeled and minced (or 1 tsp)
• ¼ tsp cumin
• ¼ tsp ground cardamom
• ½ tsp each salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 T nit'r qibe (spiced butter) or olive oil
• 1 T tomato paste
• 1c canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 375ml water (1½c)
• 1c frozen peas, thawed

Directions

1. Add the chopped onion to a heavy saucepan with a few tablespoons of the water. Cook on medium until soft (about 5 min), stirring often to be sure it doesn’t burn.
2. Add carrot and potato and a bit more water, cover and cook another 10 minutes.
3. Add spices, nit'r qibe, tomato paste, chickpeas, and remaining water, cover and bring to a boil.
4. educe heat and simmer, covered, until vegetables are tender and flavourful, about 30 minutes. You may need to add a bit more water.
5. Add green peas and heat through.
6. Serve on injera with your favourite Ethiopian foods.

Ye’atakilt kilkil is a similar dish made using green beans instead of chickpeas and green peas.

Building friendships

On Sunday we had some friends over for lunch between church and the Christmas pageant. E is Ethiopian, married to a German Mennonite. They have four kids aged 1 to 6, and also brought along E’s nephew Y, who comes to church with them. Two of the children are in Button’s Sunday School class, so they had lots of fun playing together. Also with us were J and B – another adoptive single mom and her 9-year-old son who is in Mustang’s Sunday School class.

I like to encourage building friendships with other children from the church. Having strong friendships is something that helps to keep children in the church when they become teenagers. Seeing as I don’t have pre-existing friendships with the parents of Button’s classmates, it takes a bit more effort, but I find that this also builds new friendships for me, and I get to know people I might otherwise not.

Christmas pageant

This year I helped out with the Christmas pageant again, as co-director. This is about the fifth year I’ve worked with the pageant. I was the director/ head honcho for about three years, and assistant for the last two or three, though last year I did next to nothing as there was a lot of uncertainty as to whether we’d be here. As it turned out we weren’t, and though we were around during the lead-up to the pageant I was so focused on when we’d get to Ethiopia that I didn’t have much head space for pageant rehearsals! (Also as it turned out, last year’s pageant ended up being delayed owing to a huge snowstorm, and though it was early January when it was finally performed, we were still in Ethiopia anyhow.) (Then there was the year, 2005, when I missed the big show because I was in the hospital for hip surgery…)

I enjoy working with the kids, and while it’s a lot of work and every year I think I don’t want to do it again, it’s more than worth the effort when I see the kids do their thing on stage, and every year it turns out just fine and everyone is thrilled.



This year we did a show called “The First Leon,” in which a boy named Leon (Noel spelled backwards) is so keen on being in the pageant he tries out for every role, even the angels (who are all girls). But he doesn’t get a part, not even the tiniest one. The director, in a weak moment, tells Leon he can be the understudy for the innkeeper. Of course, the boy playing the innkeeper does get sick, so Leon is called on to fill in. During the actual pageant, one of the other boys, who is playing Joseph (and who doesn’t really like Leon) tries to confuse him by improvising some lines and insisting that he and Mary really, really need a place to stay. After several times repeating his one line, “No room,” and as Mary and Joseph turn away, Leon-the-innkeeper calls after them to stay, that they can have his room. He makes room for the Christ Child, and in so doing becomes the star of the show.

The Youth Group also did a readers’ theatre of the Christmas story. Here are our good friends AlleyCat, Bigger D, and H in their respective roles as Mary, Joseph, and angel.