✨Christmas Vacation ✨

 Fri. 

We took our candy bags to the 2 Sunday Schools. 

The girls helped me make a batch of salsa for our Tacos for lunch. The bikes were pulled out, the badminton net set up, 

At the 4:00 service Shotti told me, “It’s Pinky’s birthday today!”. So Shanto's were invited after church for tea. Candles in a few Christmas Stars (fruit jelly on a star shaped pastry made by Miss Aleigha, a tradition of her family) and we sang Happy Birthday. They couldn’t stay long..

Sat. 

We ran into Khulna City for Christmas goody making supplies.

Miss Christina stubbed her toes pretty badly while racing Jaira on bikes.. the chain came off and her foot slipped off the pedal slamming into the path😣

Miss Aleigha made peanut butter balls😋

We went to the river and spent an hour or so playing in the sand. It was pretty chilly and we hadn’t brought our jackets, but playing behind/below the sand bank it was a bit of a windbreaker. Miss Aleigha and Lonnie each dug a hole in the side of the sand bank large enough to crawl into! 

Back at home I fried ruti/tortillas to go with hot hamburger dip.

Sun.

 Brian and Kaylee and their 2 little boys(Dhaka family from Roblin, MB) arrived in time for a BBQ Chicken Thighs and loaf bread pulled fresh out of the oven supper, to spend the week with us💛

Mon. 

We took our guests to see our local zoo. The lion was out this time so was neat to see him but when he walked it appeared like he had arthritis or something😏. And always, it’s a bit of a battle to not feel like we are part of the zoo exhibit… our fellow missionary finally confronted the 2 men that were following quite closely and videoing… letting them know that where we come from, that is disrespectful…and later telling some others that would cost them 100 Taka (something I imagine most missionaries here try on these folks, except when they gladly reach for their wallet it’s almost worse🙄) The highlight of the zoo this time was probably the baby monkeys that were small enough to get through a hole in their cage and were scampering around along the top of the walkway fence jumping onto the men’s shoulders🐒 

To Domino’s for a pizza lunch.

Tues.

To Boro Bazaar to shop. Taking an impromptu boat ride on the Rupsa River there. Seeing the other side of the river.. a jungle village where folks were bathing on the river’s edge, building of an elite yacht for Sundarbon tours was in progress, and observing as a mother took the shirt off her young son and he proceeded to splash water on the riverbank and enjoy a mud slide with no worries of getting any clothes dirty🫣 An absolute gorgeous day for such an outing. Definitely a highlight for me. Kacchi Dine on the way home for some deliciously flavored rice and goat meat 😋

Wed. Christmas Eve.

Dipti cooked Bangla fare for our lunch. 

The last day of Aleigha’s stay with us. Lonnie, Brian, Miss Christina, and Jaira went with to meet Doyle and his visiting brother in law. And the late night badminton tournaments came to a halt also😅 We Really enjoyed her time with us. 

While they were gone, Kaylee, Maddie, and I started making gingerbread houses. We hot glued Energy Biscuits together to make the houses. Then decorated with the assortment of candy we’d been able to find… no candy canes involved here..

6:00 we were invited to Shanto’s for pita. 3 different kinds were served. One was very similar to a crepe rolled up with a light brown lightly sweetened firm-ish pudding inside, the 2nd was in the shape of a turnover with a coconut/molasses filling, and the 3rd was like a dumpling, shaped like a turnover in a sweet milk sauce. The latter being our favorite..

Thurs. Christmas Day

To our Tala outpost.

At Zero Point we had dim n ruti breakfast and picked up Kobid bro. Down the road a piece we picked up Lewis bro., his wife, and daughter. Along the way we stopped so Lewis’s could give a gift they’d brought along for one of their relatives. Then on to Harun and Joyanti’s for lunch and a service. It was special to meet their 19 yr old son Dipto who was home for 3 days. He works at a pharmacy dokan in Dhaka. 

Our Christmas Day lunch was certainly not like any from our past life! We sat on woven mats, on a dirt floor, eating Very spicy chicken curry (the feet were in there too 🙃), matchstick potatoes, bhorta made of greens… with our hands..

We left soon after our service was over. Brian had started feeling sick…

Fri. Dec. 26

Brian still did not feel well today, so stayed home while we went to Sunday School. Kaylee, the littles and I opted to stay home while the rest went on to Chakrakhali S.S.

We had our special meal for lunch. Brians had brought beef tenderloin from Dhaka and we grilled our own filet mignon, baked potato, and lettuce salad. 😋😋😋Certainly the best steak since crossing the ocean!

Kobid and Shomid were the only ones coming to church so we told them to just come to our place. We gathered in the living room for a service and sang in English out of the Christian Hymnal!😍 these brethren remembered singing and learning these songs with David back when they were living in Dhaka and made song selections.

Kaylee and I both ended up in the “nursery”(our spare bedroom)with our little boys🥰

A special service, with each of the brethren sharing a bit

Carrom was played for the rest of the evening and heated up Bangla kabar (food) with leftover filet mignon seared in butter was served before the 2 brethren went home.

Then we got out the Christian Hymnals again and had some music practice, singing notes and timing🎶

Sat. Dec.27

After breakfast, Brian’s loaded up and headed back to Dhaka

Sun. Dec.28

4:30 we went to Bobby and Rosie’s. Another translator that our missionaries used to use and still do on occasion. Rosie works in a local bank and helps us with legal matters concerning the bank also. They have a flat in an apt building here in Khulna City. It was decked out for Christmas complete with a large Christmas tree in the corner of their living room. Their one son was there with his wife and her parents, sister, and niece. Their daughter is living in Ottowa. We were served a smorgasbord of food and the girls and I enjoyed visiting with the son’s wife and in-laws including the very friendly and talkative 17 yr old niece. while the men visited in the living room. We left at 7:00 when their next set of guests was scheduled to arrive.

Tues. Dec. 30

Ground and mixed up another 15#  batch of sausage.

Miss Christina made some yummy sloppy joes for supper with fresh 30 minute rolls.

Wed. Dec. 31 New Year’s Eve

Made a run into Khulna City. Hitting 5 grocery stores. 4 of them being different Scwapnos.😅Our normal grocery store-Safe n Save was closed due to the 3 days of mourning issued by the government due to the death of a former? political leader. I was in search of a couple last minute ingredients for our New eve celebration.

Came home to lunch cooked by Dipti🤗

Then got busy making supper and Lonnie made another trip for a new faucet for the main bathroom sink and got it installed. Then walked up to a dokan for sara sak (greens). 

Doyle’s from Gopalgonj and their company, Krystal’s sister Tam and husband Tim and their 3 boys, Kaden, Jed, and Bentley ages ranging from 14-8 yrs old, From Vanderhoof, BC, arrived at 4:30. They went for a walk in the village yet before dark. They brought a fun Christmas bag from Lonnie’s sister Tina who’s from their same cong.🥰

We had our traditional southern New Year’s Eve supper of “black eyed” peas (chick peas in this country) and sausage over rice with cornbread and greens with hot pepper vinegar. 

After supper, Doyle’s and Tim’s went for a quick visit to Shanto’s leaving some of their children with us to play. 

The teachers cleaned up the kitchen

And I got the donut dough going. 

At the stroke of midnight we called the teachers and children in, sang Happy Birthday to Miss Aleigha(she is now 21 years old🤗), and then passed copies around of my latest favorite song 🎶 All My Springs Are In Thee 🎶. And just like that the evening was over!😩 Was not nearly enough time.. 

✨Happy 2026✨

Thurs. Jan. 1

For the record, 1st time that we didn’t have breakfast before our maid arrived 😅 

Breakfast didn’t happen till after she was done and gone!😅.. fried potatoes, sausage scrambled eggs and leftover donuts

Fri. Jan. 2

At the 4:00 service, Liton brought his nephew Mikal (class 6) and otherwise, it was Kobid, Shanto, Shotti, Espondant, and the beggar man. Shotti was havin a headache and Rhidoy and Pinky had stayed home with their headaches🤕

I finally took the chance to play a little badminton with my family 🏸 then popped popcorn.

Sat. Jan. 3

Last day of this lovely vacation, thanks to those in Bangladesh that made it something to look back on with fond memories😌

After breakfast of Quick Fried Apple Granola, scrambled eggs, and sausage patties, we went shopping in Khulna City.

Safe N Save, Top Ten https://maps.app.goo.gl/w7uY96GHipTdKhaVA?g_st=ipc where they told us we were their 1st foreigner customers, which is not even true, but anyway, brought us all little cups of hot coffee with sugar and milk in them while we got our fabric cut. The same man said he had seen me at Schwapnos last month, also mentioning that I’d paid cash for my groceries🤔.

 On to Aarongs, which was successful🤗

Dominos for lunch and the girls wanted the cheese on cheese pizza again that Brian’s had introduced to us last week. 

Back at the van, the tailor was now open. So I was able to leave my 1st 3 pc kameeze set and measurements with him🥻

After we got home Lonnie took rickshaw van to pay Liton a visit per his request yesterday. He was not at his dokan or house, but the relatives at his house convinced him to stay for pitas and wanted him to stay for supper yet too.