Merry? Christmas? It's Christmas Eve. It doesn't really feel like it. It hasn't felt like it, and it's kind of liberating. Just, like, a normal week. Except for tonight we somehow roped ourselves into a Christmas eve gathering (that turned into a party, with us facilitating the creation of residences of gingered bread) and a Christmas night gathering tomorrow, which I don't want to call a party because parties are more tiring, in which we will . . . watch a movie? There are mostly lonely people in our branch here, who don't really any of them seem to have things to do, even these next few days. So we'll spend some time with them and let them feel like they have a family or something.
Perhaps most importantly, and yet least importantly of all, I bought a fur hat. They are all the rage here, let me tell you. Kinda like those Russian puffhead ones you always see in the movies, but of various shapes and sizes. Sister Tate and I spend a lot of time walking on the main street (obviously, doing other things) but also looking at and comparing various fur hats of shapes and sizes. Since we're the northern-most city of Bulgaria, I think such furheads are more prominent here. And I have become kind of obsessed with them. So I bought one this morning! Merry Christmas. I have a big furry head.
Also, Sister Tate has revived my seventh-grade crocheting obsession. And this week I also made a hat. Lots of hats this week!
Okay, boring. More importantly: Christmas in Bulgaria! There was a group of guys in the little traditional vesty-reddy-embroidery (google image search that) Bulgarian villager clothes going around "koledaring," which means I guess serenading the women they find and beating each other up with sticks? I'm a little confused about that tradition. So look it up if you so care. Mostly people here have a thing on Christmas Eve where they eat nine fasting main course dishes (fasting meaning without meat, in the Orthodox/Catholic sense) and then break their fast on Christmas Day with meat. And fur hats!
It's been very tender to be here and remember you guys and see the lives of people in this country. It's something to think about every day - that there are people around the world, in places we don't even know about or think about, who are suffering different things than we will ever understand, and yet who have the exact same longings and loneliness that we all have. It's really tender to see people's loneliness and hopes and problems and know that even though I can't resolve them, I can do whatever I can to do what Jesus would do in that same circumstance. And even if you're not on a mission, that's something that's always true.
I love you guys so much. I pray for you every day, and the people I love really are the greatest gifts I've been given. Merry krudmas!
Sister Crundal
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