Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas here in Jerusalem, complete with Grandma Marsha and Grandpa John! Having them here really helped it feel like Christmas. Here's some evidence of that:

Libbie and "Baba" are real buddies

Santa came on Christmas Eve and stuffed our stockings with toys and treats, including Russian piggy banks and sugar cereal.

Stockings propped on the couch with care

Aaron got up to go to the bathroom at 5 am on Christmas morning but instead of going back to sleep like he usually does, he came into our room which immediately woke up Libbie. She in turn stood up and walked out into the hallway with Aaron, which woke up Elli. Soon they all were hopping excited. Grandma and Grandpa were still sleeping so Ben played with them until it was time to open presents, and I got to a nap for a little bit.

At about 6:00 am, we had a Skype date with my family in Utah so that we could all open our Christmas Eve presents together. We have a tradition of opening matching pajamas together on Christmas Eve, but since Elliot and I were in Bethlehem Christmas Eve, we waited until Christmas morning, which conveniently lined up with the Utah pajama opening.

This year we got red shirts that say "My family rocks" with black and white flannel bottoms. So cozy.

Soon after opening the pajamas, we woke up Grandpa and started the morning's rituals. I wish we would have gotten a picture of the kids all lined up and ready to walk in (like we used to do when I was little) but we didn't. This is the best we got.

After some time looking through stockings and the art supplies Santa left for the kids, we started opening presents. Christmas was on Saturday, which is the Sabbath here, so we were anxious to get started so we could still have time to get ready for church.

One of my favorite gifts of the day: a drawing of two knights fighting a dragon, made by Aaron for Elli

Explaining the details of the drawing

Excitedly showing it to mom (a close look at his expression shows that Aaron is immensely pleased)

The kids got books, games, puzzles, and more books from us and mostly from their ever generous visiting grandparents. One of my favorite parts about Christmas is sitting around in the afternoon enjoying new pastimes, gifts, and activities together, where the most important activity is, of course, eating yummy food.

Aaron reading Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen

Reading and drawing after church on Christmas afternoon (with new books and new art supplies)

Aaron read all the "Brian" books (Hatchet, Brian's Return, Brian's Winter, etc) and the first Redwall book within a week or so after Christmas.

Grandpa, then a bit under the weather, taking a rest among the delightful Christmas aftermath

Elliot putting together his new Batman puzzle

The final 48-piece product

(Elliot still loves puzzles, as he has for the last two years. At first he was a puzzle fiend, now he is just happy to play around.)

Christmas dinner: Salmon, Au Gratin potatoes ("All Rots" in Lambertese), cooked carrots, and orange rolls (not pictured)

Aaron made a rhubarb pie on Christmas Eve (by himself), which we happily sliced up and enjoyed throughout the week. It was really good.

Carefully cutting out the first slice

Mmmmmm

We had a wonderful Christmas overall. We hung out, opened gifts, went to church (Christmas on the Sabbath two years in a row is nice), hung out some more, had a feast, and then Marsha and John and Ben went to a non-Christmas related party. Actually, we had three separate invitations from friends to do something on Christmas, few of whom were aware of the fact that that particular Saturday happened to be Christmas. It has been immensely interesting to be surrounded by people who don't celebrate Christmas. It has forced us to decide how we want to celebrate instead of just going with the flow like we usually do. Not surprisingly, it turns out family, food, and worship are important aspects of Christmas. In other words, when Christmas is not everywhere, it is only what you make of it. In this light, a Christmas without all the trappings is a particularly special day. To Christmas abroad!

Christmas Eve

A typical Christmas Eve for me might include a big feast with ham, au gratin potatoes, and all the trimmings, acting out nativity scenes with the kids, opening a present of matching pajamas from the "CE elves" (Christmas Eve elves, AKA my Mom and Dad), and watching movies with family members while scrambling to finish last-minute Christmas gifts. As little as two days before Christmas Eve, I figured this Christmas Eve would be more or less typical, just on a smaller scale. Boy, was I ever wrong.

When we received an invitation to visit Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, we figured it would be crowded and too much of a hassle for the whole family. Instead we decided to split up, with Elliot and I going to Bethlehem and everyone else--Ben, Aaron, Libbie, and Grandma and Grandpa Peters--staying at home in Jerusalem. So, on Christmas Eve morning, I picked up Elli early from school (which, quite understandably, does not take a Christmas break) and we shuttled over Bethlehem on two Arab buses. It was actually quite an easy trip. Once we got there, my friend Sahar picked us up and we headed over to the city parade on Manger Square. Elliot was really excited about seeing, as he chanted several times, "the kids playing instruments," and he wasn't disappointed.

The parade on Manger Square consisted of a series of Palestinian scouts in uniform, walking together in their different troops, some playing percussion and some bagpipes. We showed up to the square last minute but ended up with a decent view.

This is in front of the Bethlehem Peace Center on Manger Square.

As I watched the scouts marching by with their Palestinian flags, I kept thinking about how these guys are Palestinians, and they should have a country to claim as their own, which they do not have now. We were all reminded of that fact as we passed through the checkpoint crowded with dozens of Israeli soldiers armed with machine guns. As we drove through the checkpoint, Rebecca, one of our American friends here, asked Sahar if Israelis are allowed in Bethlehem. Sahar responded that technically they are not allowed, to which Rebecca replied, "So what are all these Israeli soldiers doing on your land?" Sahar just raised her eyebrows and shook her head and we all chuckled as someone observed, "She wonders that everyday. What are all these soldiers doing on her land?" Such a strange situation.

It didn't take long for the crowd to overwhelm us. After about a half an hour of being squished and pushed around, Elliot started saying, "I'm done with the parade!" So we squeezed our way through the crowd until stumbling into a less crowded side street, which some of the scouts passed through.

Sitting on the curb on the side street. I love Elliot's face in this one.

A short video of some of the bagpiping

The back view of a group of adult scouts, showing the Jerusalem/Crusader's Cross

There are a surprising number of scout troops in Bethlehem. I asked Sahar what the Scouts do throughout the year and she said that aside from a few camping trips in the summer, they mostly just prepare for this parade.

After the parade, we met up with some friends from church and headed over to a church member's house for dinner. The apartment, which was not huge and packed, hosted our good time. I had for Christmas Eve dinner chicken, potatoes, and Arab-style rice served with almonds and yogurt. Very yummy.

Elliot was really excited to become the leader of this train of kids from church, as we walked down the streets of Bethlehem after the parade.

Elliot had a lot of fun at the party, as you can see from this smile. He was non-stop smiles the whole day. It was wonderful to get to spend time with him, one on one, even when we were with many others.

After the party, Elliot and I stayed on in Bethlehem to join Sahar, her cousin, and niece in a little present exchange, where we found a Christmas tree even smaller than the two-footer we have at home.

Elliot was the only kid there and enjoyed being the center of attention. It was really great to spend some time with this Palestinian family. However strange to not be with our own family, it was a wonder opportunity to experience a different place, culture, and people.

I tucked Elliot in to sleep at Sahar's house, then Sahar, Rebecca, and I met Sahar's cousin and went out for Chinese. Christmas Eve dinner #2. Also not quite traditional. But we enjoyed non-kosher food (shrimp!) and watched the crowds at Manger Square on the television as well as a few newsreels from the tunnels in Gaza (which was a whole new experience to watch while sitting in Palestine).

Some of the leaders and teachers of the Jerusalem Center were able to get permission to go to Bethlehem for the midnight mass. I met up with them, hoping to get into the mass as well. Unfortunately, none of us were able to get in since the police authorities had taken over the management and wouldn't let any non-Arabs in. So we drove home at the reasonable hour of 11:30 pm instead of the expected 1:30 am.

President Ohman, Marilyn and Joe Bentley, Nancy Jackson, and Abbi Chadwick (the daughter of Jeff), waiting for the taxi

Elliot stayed asleep while I transferred him to the various cars and eventually to his bed. As usual, we passed through the Bethlehem checkpoint without incident, even without showing our passports.

I got home to find that Santa had been busy at work. I helped with some last minute touches, then we all went to bed, high on the Christmas spirit. We weren't too thrilled, though, when the kids woke up at 5:10 the next morning, ready to go. I didn't see Santa or baby Jesus, or any of the other things one might expect to see on Christmas eve in Bethlehem. I did see a new part of the world in celebration, however, which, while far from my typical Christmas Eve, proved to be a Christmas Eve not to forget.

Krista and Chris visit: Day Three

Their third day here was Saturday, Shabbat. We started off the morning by going to church with our local congregation, which meets in a very impressive building up on Mount Scopus.

We walked around quite a bit after the meetings, where we had great views of the Old City and the surrounding areas.

We then went to a famous viewpoint on the Mount of Olives, not far from church. We stopped at the Church of the Ascension on the way, which was basically abandoned so it was kind of nice.

View from the Mt. of Olives

Petting the tourist camel

The boxes in the foreground are Jewish graves, since they believe that those buried in this area will be resurrected first.

After the view, we drove down a very thin, windy (with 70 degree angle turns, at times) walled-in road to the Garden of Gethsemane. When we arrived, we hesitantly parked on the sidewalk behind a van. A man ran up to us and said we were parked okay. He looked at our white church shirts and skirts and said, "You Mormon? Welcome!" We laughed and thanked him for the parking tip. He smiled at us and asked for five shekels, for "the parking help." He gave us "real branches from the garden. Very holy." I hope they weren't actually from the garden, and I doubt they are actually holy, but it was a nice gesture anyway.

We had a pleasant walk through the garden and church. Access to the trees was, appropriately, off limits to tourists but we could get pretty close. It was really amazing to look closely at the trees, which are estimated to be over a thousand years old.

A very small carving in one of the walls

The happy couple

After Gethsemane, we picked up some warm bread, pita, and hummus from a grocery store then went back up to the viewpoint for the sunset so Chris could take some pictures.

Our best attempt to get the five of us in one frame

Krista and Chris visit: Day Two

Our plan for the day was for me to take K and C to the Old City in the morning for a free tour, then return for a lunch of Chicken Apple Sausages KC brought all the way from Utah for Ben (who misses those more than anything else from the States). After lunch, Ben was going to take KC to the Western Wall for the Friday night Shabbat ceremony. Since this was during Hanukkah, we figured it would be especially neat. As usual, our actual day didn't quite reflect our plan.

We got to the Jaffa Gate of the Old City for our free tour just after 11, and luckily the tour hadn't started yet. It was a small group, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable, so we got to ask lots of questions along the way. I have been to the Old City several times, but most of the places the guide took us were places I hadn't been yet, or at least didn't know much about. We learned the interesting history of the Armenian Quarter and how as conflicts between religions have come and gone within the Old City, the Armenians just close up their gates and stay out of it. I love the image of the Armenians just closing themselves in and saying, "This isn't our fight, but we'll still be here when you guys are done working things out." I'm sure it's more complicated than that, but that's how our guide explained it. One of my favorite parts of the tour, though, was looking up and seeing the shards of glass that were glued onto the side of a building in the Armenian Quarter. Someone in the Jewish Quarter built a second story onto their building, which could have enabled people to jump from that building onto a building in the Armenian Quarter. So, naturally, the Armenians built an extension on their building and covered it in glass shards to prevent intrusions. Better safe than invaded.

Sisters near Jaffa Gate, overlooking part of the city that was all constructed within the last twenty years.

Our tour included each quarter of the Old City (Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Armenian).

Can you guess which quarter this is?

View of the Western/Wailing Wall

A close-up of the Wall--if you look closely, you can see the menorah/chanukiah in the middle of the wall, which is also on the far right side of the men's section. Yes, the men's section is significantly larger than the women's.

A tour wouldn't be complete without a stop for some food. We decided on chicken schwarma, which was delicious. Krista and I shared one of the huge ones that's more like a burrito.

This is the only image of Santa Claus I have seen in Jerusalem.

We stopped in at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Krista and I waited in line to actually go into the "tomb," which is now just a room filled with chandeliers, icons, and gold.

Speaking Russian came in quite handy for entertainment while in the line when a couple of Russian ladies tried to butt in line, telling the guard that their friend was right there. The Israeli guard, of course, would not allow her to jump in line and kept saying, "Nyet here!" Several Russian people in the line were getting really upset, yelling about how she had to wait her turn like the rest of us, etc. The ladies would not listen, and continued to wait at the front of the line, then when their friend came by they actually tried to squeeze in without the guard noticing. It was quite hilarious.

After we were done with the tour, we did some shopping at "Shabon's" a tourist shop in the Old City that has the best prices. I got a David and Goliath slingshot and a wooden camel for their kids and Krista got some other little things. At this point, we were still trying to hurry home so that Ben could come back to the Western Wall with them but we soon realized that since we had already eaten lunch, an extra trip probably wasn't worth it. K and C were exhausted from walking all day, so compliant and thoughtful Ben suggested that we just go ourselves instead. We thought it would be cool to go at sundown since that's when Shabbat starts and it was Chanukah. So we stopped by the Garden Tomb to wait for the sunset.

The Garden Tomb is a garden and tomb that some people think was where Christ was crucified and resurrected. As far as I understand it, the dating of the rock shows that the tomb is not nearly old enough to be Christ's, and the political reasons for the Protestants wanting to claim their area as the real place are pretty strong, but I still prefer this place over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, by far. It's a beautiful garden with lots of space to wander around and sit down in. The tomb actually looks like a tomb, instead of a gaudily decorated building. Love those Protestants for keeping things simple.

Krista and Chris

Learning to Read, Slowly

I am working with both my boys on learning how to read, often alternating from one to the other. They are at about the same point in their progression toward reading fluidly: they both know most of the letters and can sound their way through a word. The only difference is that while Elliot is learning to read English, Aaron is learning to read Hebrew. In our English reading lessons, when Elliot reads a new word correctly, he sometimes gets so excited he can hardly contain himself. My favorite was when he was sounding out the word "read" a few days ago, he said, "Rrreeed.... Read! Like, 'Elliot can read!'" We sat beaming at each other for several happy seconds after that one.

Not surprisingly, it is a lot more difficult to teach Aaron how to read Hebrew, since neither of us speak, or read, or understand it with any competency. Sometimes we are not even sure if what we have read is a real word or not. For example, when Aaron sounds out his words, our conversation usually goes something like this: Aaron: "Mi...sh...pa...kha...h... 'Mishpakhah.' Is that right? What does that mean?" Me: "I don't know. Ben, do you know?" Ben: "Hmmm.... Sounds familiar. Not sure." So then I commence looking up "mishpakhah" in the dictionary. First I have to figure out exactly where the mem letter is in the alphabet, find it in the dictionary, then the shin, and so on. "Here it is, mishpakhah-- family. woohoo! You read 'mishpakhah,' which means 'family.'" While exhilarating in the end, the reward is slow coming. And in some cases, the reward never comes because the given form of the word in Aaron's homework does not appear in the dictionary. Those moments can be utterly disappointing. It's worth it though. Tonight for the first time since we've been here, Aaron completed a whole page of Hebrew reading homework--never mind it took three people most of an hour to do. And we are confident that it is at least 75% right. Well worth a celebration!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

There is no snow. No public Christmas music. No candy canes. No lights on houses. No Santa Claus. No gift advertisements. We have seen none of these things in Jerusalem. But today, I found my Jerusalem image of Christmas. Our local church branch hosted a Christmas gathering on a shepherds' field, looking over at the city of Bethlehem on the hill. We caravanned to the edge of Jerusalem, parked the cars, then climbed up the rocky hills to the shepherds' field that could have been where the angel visited the shepherds on the night of Christ's birth. "Field" is a total misnomer. There are no fields for miles. We each found a rock and sat down, watched the stars come out in the sky and the lights come on in Bethlehem. As we settled in, a shepherd passed by with his flock of sheep. A couple of professors--Jeff Chadwick and Kerry Muhlstein--shared some history (Ruth, Boaz, David, and Jesus all had connections with Bethlehem) and thoughts. Then we sang Christmas songs, sometimes altering the lyrics to fit our situation. It's not "Far, far away on Judea's plains," it's "Right around here on Judea's hills." The kids climbed rocks and pretended to be archeologists. When we finished singing, we shared some cookies and called it a night. Now it feels like Christmas.

This donkey-riding shepherd arrived just in time for our event
Look closely to see the flock of sheep following behind him

Aaron was in heaven

You can see why the archeologist in our group insists on singing "Judea's hills" instead of "Judea's plains"

(If you're wondering, he gets the rhyme in there with "joyous trills" instead of "joyous strains.")

You can see some of the lights of Bethlehem in the background. Times like this I wish I had a better camera.

Libbie decided she didn't need her coat (But yes, I made her put it on right after this picture. It's warm here, but not t-shirt weather after sunset.)

Some branch members, and a few visitors who were at church this morning and decided to come along

So yes, as the song goes, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but this year, for me, the image of Christmas is not lighted trees or snow-filled streets. Instead, it is the image of sheep passing through the hills of Judea, and watching the stars come out over the (no longer "little") town of Bethlehem. Christmas time is here!

Krista and Chris Visit: Day One

We had such a great time with my sister Krista and her husband Chris. They kissed their three little kids goodbye at our parents' house and took the 23-hour trip to our part of the world. We did our best to keep them busy during the days to get a lot in their six-day stay but also to fight jetlag. Here is my summary of their first day here.

Krista and Chris arrived in the early afternoon in Tel Aviv, so we started the morning by picking up the rental car and then drove out to Ben Gurion airport to pick them up. As we waited for them to pass through customs, we had fun watching different flights and different dresses of the people coming through the door. Fifty hooded Muslims? Must be the flight from Jordan. There was a big group from Africa that was fun to watch gather together, all dressed in the same green and yellow robes with the words, "Disciples of Christ" printed in the fabric. It reminded me that many people come to Israel as a Christian pilgrimage to grow closer to Christ. I find it helpful to remember that when I have to squeeze through the crowds at important biblical sights. Most of these people are driven by their religious faith, and some show it differently than how I choose to. I think of this as I watch people bend down to kiss the star that marks the supposed exact spot where Jesus was born, or watch people take out their personal belongings to rub on the spot where Jesus was anointed before burial. Although my expression of worship may take a different form, I recognize that our common presence at these sites could be more important than our differences.

Chris and Krista finally arrived through the doors of Ben Gurion airport and after a few joyful hugs of reunion, we squeezed into our car and headed off for our first tourist spot: Neot Kedumim. The online directions seemed easy enough since it is just off the main route from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, but it turned out that we all had a good taste of Israeli highways when we followed the signs which directed us to drive 10 km past the entrance, turn right, make a U-turn, then turn left and drive the 10K back to the entrance. We had a good laugh.

I heard about Neot Kedumim, a "Biblical Landscape Reserve," which recreates the physical setting of some Biblical sites, from a friend who went there with a huge group. I was excited about the idea of pressing olives to make oil, baking pita they way they used to, and other time-period activities, but it turns out that you need a big group and a lot of cash to participate in those things, so instead we just walked around and enjoyed the gardens and fruit trees.

Wandering

Properly accessorized with matching boots and purse... no one tell her she forgot pants.

Our favorite part was the Sukkot section, which showcases valid and invalid sukkot. A sukkah is a hut that the Jews build to celebrate Sukkot, or "Feast of the Tabernacles," a holiday which commemorates the forty years of wandering in the desert. The sukkot should be built in such a way that they are fragile, with roofs made of tree branches or bamboo shoots, to remind the inhabitants of the hardship their ancestors went through in the wilderness. You are supposed to eat all your meals in the sukkah, and some even sleep in theirs. According to the display at Neot Kedumim, there are some very specific directions about what are valid sukkot and what are invalid. Next to each display of valid and invalid sukkot, there was a plaque explaining what a Rabbi had decreed. Our favorite (which we didn't get a picture of) was a super tall two-story sukkah and a very small one, no taller than a goat, accompanied by a plaque explaining the valid range of sukkah height.

This sukkah is invalid because, as the bottom plaque explains, the walls are hung from the top downward.

Our plan after Neot Kedumim was to go home and relax with some falafel from French Hill Falafel down the road. We made the mistake, though, of not bringing directions to our house. We figured since the road led to Jerusalem, we'd be able to find our way. Well, that was not the case. We ended up driving around the hills of Jerusalem, at one point following signs for a hospital in our neighborhood that turned out to be a hospital of the same name on the other side of town. Fortunately, we finally found a highway we recognized and got on it, which led us back to our neighborhood after a good hour or two detour. And, even more fortunately, French Hill Falafel was still open, so we sat and enjoyed fresh falafel together, covered in chopped veggies, hummus, tahini, spicy mango sauce, and pickled veggies. So delicious.