Christmas Day

My Christmas Present

 

I am writing about the most decadent night of my life!

Christmas eve was a quiet one. I did go into town to try and get my internet connection sorted. There were queues a mile long for the counter at MTN, but no one appeared to be working in the business section, so I couldn’t get anything done. I went shopping at the craft market over the road instead, for my Secret Santa present, and a few treats for myself.

The rest I spent at home just pottering. I made a platter of food for the guard, with a little cup of Bailey’s which was a treat bought with Christmas money :)  Under the cup I slipped FRW 500 for cutting the lawn, and an additional $20 (about FRW 10,000) bonus for the time of year.

Christmas Day, I woke at seven, had a wash, and waited for Philip to call at half-nine. We took a bisi towards Nyabugogo and got off by the Embassy and Novotel. Then we walked for a while, trying to find Joanne & Morley’s house. We got hideously lost and ended up walking around the suburbs for a while until Morley came to find us. Actually, Morley and Jane. We’d asked a local guy if he knew where the muzungus lived and he ran and told the next muzungu he found - who happened to be Jane - that we were wandering around lost :op

We got there eventually though, and breakfast was wonderful. There were loads of volunteers there and some of their families who were out visiting for Christmas: Joe and his almost identical twin brother, and his sister, Mel and her friend from home, Craig, Hannah G and her boyfriend from up North, Kigali Hannah with her sister, Mum and Dad, Joanna and Morley of course, me and Philip, Samira and Jane (think that’s everybody!).

There were sweet pastries, chocolate logs and, best of all, crepes with fresh fruit, yoghurt and tons of maple syrup! Loads of it. Absolutely amazing. Then we all sat around for Secret Santa, which was lovely. I received a little wooden picture made from banana leaf from Samira - most of us revealed our identities at the end - and I gave a little shell necklace and keyring to Kigali Hannah. We keep getting workbooks full of squared paper from VSO and conferences, so I’d made the wrapping paper from that, by colouring in the squares in a pretty pattern.

We hung around and chatted until about half-one, then Philip and I made our way (rather more directly) home via a taxi. We stopped off over the road for a beer and a brochette as we needed something a little bit savoury after all that sweet stuff. Then he came back over to mine to make a start on the bottle of Bailey’s. Mum called to say 'Happy Christmas,' on their way to the pub :) 

Philip left about five to go and get tidied up. I did likewise. Then he picked me up again at six and we started the twenty-minute walk over to Mel & Craig’s, stopping for another beer on the way.

When we got to their house, it was something magical. It’s a gorgeous location anyway, with steps leading down through the garden to the house, but it was made all the more magical by the candlelight glinting off tinsel and decorations.

Alcohol was plentiful: red wine, gin and tonic, beer, the rest of the Bailey's we took. I stuck to red wine the entire night. We attempted a bottle of Rwandan wine - hmmm - then used it for cooking :op

Craig was the Master Chef, as he is utterly amazing in the kitchen. The house is so big that seven other volunteers and their friends had been stopping over to help out. They’d been preparing for two days!

Most of the people who came to breakfast also came to the meal. That's around eighteen people in all!

It began with bread and pâté: fish, guacamole, houmous and vegetable. All made from local ingredients and all tasting amazing!

When the bread and Pringles had been significantly chomped, we moved on to vegetable soup, again made fresh from local ingredients.

The main course was a melange of so many wonderful, wonderful things: a chicken (which Samira had slaughtered the other day!), stuffing, mashed potatoes, cabbage, green beans, lamb chops in tomato and olive sauce, and, rarest of all, a lettuce salad with green pepper and flowers from the garden! Lettuce salad here is unseen, and usually you have to avoid salads when dining because of the water used. Everything except the stuffing was local. The stuffing came from England in a packet :op 

Words cannot express how wonderful a meal this was!

To round-off, it was pudding time! We were all bursting at the seams but somehow managed to make just enough room to go for it. There were bananas and pineapple with chocolate sauce, a banoffee pie (without the offee) coated in chocolate and coconut, a giant mince pie, and a vat of chocolate sauce for dipping. It was truly out of this world.

There was a nice long stretch between courses, to let the digestion process kick in. We’d started eating around eight and finished around eleven. Then some went their way, and those of us who stayed had a sing-song. Philip had prepared the words to some old classics like Daddy Wouldn’t Buy Me a Bo-wow, Any Old Iron, Oh I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside, My Old Man and so forth. It was hilarious, and everyone joined in with gusto. At the end, Jane sang a couple of hymns: Hark The Herald and Once In Royal David’s City. She has a beautiful voice. It was really touching.

Eventually, Philip and I wandered home at about midnight. I flopped into my bed with a huge, contented belly. It was the best Christmas dinner I think I’ve ever had in my life – all the more special when you think how much effort had gone into preparing it.

I woke today feeling amazingly perky considering how much I drank last night, but it was over a long period, and alongside a lot of food. Philip is calling in around one o’clock and we’re planning a very leisurely Boxing Day swim at the Tennis Club, which I haven’t been to before. Then a spot of late lunch somewhere. 

Going to miss him when he leaves in a couple of weeks. It’s been nice to have someone to wander about with. It also struck me last night that, although there’s a couple of two-year volunteers here from last year, I’m the only one this year. So, this time next year I may be the only one of the group left. Everyone else will have gone home. Strange thought, but hey-ho.