Christmas Morning 2008

Wow...what an amazing Christmas we had!!! The unwrapping of the gifts took about 1 1/2 hours and it was filled with many surprises and so much excitement!! What I loved watching most was the gratitude and politeness that came from each of my kids. They were so patient with each other as they took turns opening their gifts. And then....the THANK YOU'S...wow, they were pouring out of them...too sweet! We got them a Wii this year and they were so surprised and excited! I will try to upload the video of that event soon!

2008 Christmas Activities...

Our internet has been running too slow to upload anything because some internet lines were cut in the Mediterranean. So, hopefully I can get a few posts up showing you some of Christmas 2008 with the Dunavants!

First up....Christmas Eve Activities: We woke up Christmas Eve morning and the kids began begging Matt, "Can we open ONE...just ONE present today??? PLEASE!" So, after much begging, he caved. They each opened one present.


We then got ready and went to some friend's house for some Christmas snacks, kid crafts, cookie decorating, fellowship, and Wii playing!




After an eventful afternoon/evening, we returned home to put out reindeer food and Santa cookies and milk. Our friend, April, came home with us to spend the night and join this year's Christmas fun! Then we decided we really needed to watch Home Alone to end the evening! What a fun and full day!


This year we threw our reindeer food over the balcony. It worked.....Santa found us!!!!

Egyptian Jingle Bells Coming Your Way!

The girls sang some really neat songs in their Christmas program. I wasn't able to video all of it at the program so we decided to do a little re-take of a couple of songs. Here is Madison singing Jingle Bells Egyptian style. I will post Meredith's within a day or so!

Christmas Program at the Nursing Home

Today was a fun day! Meredith and Madison had a Christmas Program at a local nursing home. It was all in Arabic and they really did a fantastic job! Matt, Matthew Ray and I watched with pride as they performed. Matthew informed me that he thinks he will be too scared next year to do all of that in front of ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE! I think we might have a little guy with stage fright...a first for the Dunavant children! :)

Madison as a donkey:
Meredith as Mary:Meredith singing in Arabic and sign language:
We took a few shots in the lobby while we waited:
Madison and her class goofing off while they waited:

Sheep to the Slaughter....

Yesterday was a holiday here. It is called the holiday of the sacrifice. Families buy animals to sacrifice in the streets and the blood flows. It is important for each member of the family to watch the sacrifice. The sacrifices are done early in the morning.

Matt went out yesterday to watch this yearly tradition. It makes us so thankful for the Perfect Lamb that was slain!!

Meredith Serves....

Meredith recently visited a Sudanese school with her class. They took some needed items to the school and spent some time just visiting with the students. It is so good when we see our children give...you know, they are "takers" so much of the time! I love to see my children serve.


Aren't they adorable...

Some Christmas Cheer...

We actually decorated for Christmas the day before Thanksgiving but I thought I would wait until after Thanksgiving to post the pics! We just couldn't wait because we really didn't decorate last year because we were traveling to all of our families houses. This was our first time to decorate here in Egypt. We had a great time together as a family.
Our tree is loaded with many glass ornaments made here in Egypt.

Glass ornaments made for necessary assistance in the decorating process.

A decorating pose from Meredith

Madison is a cute little Santa helper!

The morning after we decorated we woke up to this sight. Matthew Ray is really in the Christmas spirit! He is so excited about everything....he even came home from school yesterday and was thrilled to tell us that his teacher wore Christmas earrings to school!!!

A Gobble, Gobble...no, Cluck, Cluckin Thanksgiving!

This year's Thanksgiving was a gobble, gobble (well...cluck, cluckin) good time!(hilarious story explained below) We got together with some other American friends and ate lots of food, played games and enjoyed one another's company! They really have become our "family" here and we are so thankful to share the holidays with those we love.

Pin the Hat on the Turkey game:

April's first Thanksgiving away from home...we love you, April!

Me and Matt trying to take a picture of ourselves...didn't work out too well :)
Full bellies and fun friends:

The gobble/cluck story... This is an email we received from our friend who was hosting our Thanksgiving celebration and who was also in charge of purchasing the turkey:

Dear Pilgrims and Indians,

That old Thanksgiving song asks of Timothy Turkey, “Why do you cry, Why do you cry, Why do you cry?” In the original our friend Timothy was crying great big turkey tears because he knew he was about to lose his head and feathers and end up on a silver platter on the classic, American table. Well, we at our house have felt the pain of ol’ Timmy Turkey, but for different reasons. We have cried because we have not been able to find a turkey. Well, let us rephrase. The first turkey we found was a frozen one (which is what we were looking for), but the wrapping had been opened and it looked as if the bird had been handled. We then found a turkey that we thought had been frozen at one time…although we are not sure when that time was. When we picked it up at the store it was very cold and we only carried it by the handle on the bag so we didn’t realize that it wasn’t really frozen until we got it home. After doing extensive research online (many thanks to “WikiAnswers”) we learned that a whole turkey can be left thawed in the refrigerator for only 1-2 days. So we thought we would investigate the questionable bird. As we opened the bag in our kitchen both of our heads snapped back at the smell of spoiled meat. Needless to say we aren’t cooking this one…although we are still debating as to whether this discovery would stop some of our friends from eating multiple portions anyway (Matt, don’t ask who I am talking about.). In conclusion, after six hours of searching our favorite stores from Heliopolis to Maadi, we found 3 turkeys; one frozen, naked, and handled, one rotten, and one as yet to be identified. We have decided to leave #3 a mystery. As it stands right now it looks as if Bahy BBQ will be providing our Thanksgiving meat. We think about 6 chickens will feed everyone. We are sorry if this ruins anyone’s holiday cheer. My thought was that I would now have more room for pumpkin pie, pecan pie, sweet potato casserole, dressing, beans, bread, and yes…street chicken. I guess we can rearrange everyone’s favorite holiday song…Charlie Chicken why do you cry? Or better yet…Fady Friek bitayut leih? We can’t wait to share our holiday together.

Turkey Bowl '08

We missed last year's Turkey Bowl at Meredith and Madison's school because we were in the states with Matt's head incident. But we didn't miss it this year! The parents and teachers played against the students.



Matt played well but now his body is mad at him for playing so hard! :)



Stacey and Meredith loved their "full back position" because they didn't have to move very much! The only time Stacey moved was when the ball came right at her, followed by a scream! Matt played well but now his body is mad at him for playing so hard! :)


Madison cheered on the sidelines (well, kind of)...but she was cute anyway! All in all...it was a great time!

Confession...We Have a Drinking Problem at our House!

We have literally POURED (no pun intended) tons of money into buying juice boxes over the last 2 years! This is partly due to a 5 and 6 year old who can't seem to get enough apple juice! So, about a week ago we sat down with all three children and discussed the "new rule" on drinking juice....They each are allowed to have one juice box a day and then a small cup either for breakfast or for supper. The rest of the time they can drink water. As soon as we finished giving the rule Meredith said, "It is not me that has the juice problem. THEY have the juice drinking problem!!!":)
A few days later we had some things delivered from our little shop. When the man came and told us the total, I just knew that couldn't be right. We went ahead and paid him but I was determined to do some research the next day. My suspicion was right...that shop had been charging us 3 times the price for our large juices and twice the price for our small juice boxes!!! Of course, I went to them and got my money back from the previous day's order(don't worry...I kept my cool) but who knows how much they really owe me from the last two years!!! So, I guess the "pouring of the money" is not all Madison and Matthew Ray's fault afterall! But Meredith says they still have a drinking problem!
He looks pretty tipsy, doesn't he! :)