"Squeeze the World"

Every day this week, minus Sunday, has been a trip to Nazareth and back. It's fun to work with their Christmas program, but it's also exhausting. I have a fun part in it as a musical shepherdess. The program itself follows the events that occurred in Nazareth before Jesus' birth, then there's a distance warp into Bethlehem ending with the manger scene. My role is to play a little mid-eastern flute for background, and also play my "real" flute as an accompanist. The program is held at night, so my fingers get REALLY cold. It's like being at some of the later football games, except I don't jump up and down and scream, and it actually matters if I sound good.

I was a little disappointed that my participation in the program interferes with Hanukkah celebrations, but the more that I learn about Hanukkah the less regret I feel. One thing that's really cool is that they eat jelly donuts, and it's been a long time since I've had a donut, but most of it is rooted in paganism, and it isn't even prescribed by God. It also seems that the reason the western world makes such a big deal about it is because it falls in the same time as Christmas, and we all want to be multi-cultural. The Muslims here seem to have adopted Christmas, but I don't think the same is true for the rest of the Muslim world. However, I haven't heard of any Kwanza or Boxing Day celebrations, which is pretty disappointing. I might have to arrange my own.

The Young Woman's Bible study I've joined has had a Hanukkah/Christmas celebration, which was also a going away party for my Finnish friend :( That was very sad, but we're adjusting. The party itself was fun: a mystery dinner with a gift exchange!