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!!!