Frank-incensed!

- Each invitation hand-crafted!!

Last week was S.'s school Christmas concert - and I do mean Christmas. All PC notions of 'holiday trees' and 'non-denominational turkey roast' are out the window here, and it is, frankly, a little refreshing. This said, I was a little taken aback the other day when I heard S. singing softly to herself about how baby Jesus was going to perform some sort of magical intervention or the other. Their classroom also has a dradle in it. No Kwaanza here, somewhat paradoxically.

- 'Peace' is apparently an optional tenet of the message - S. (in cow costume) leads with a good looking straight left!

The concert was of off-Broadway scope and ambition. The children helped make the invitations (see photo), the costumes and even (taking turns) emceed the event. It was a rousing spectacle. S. was, along with some classmates, a cow. The rest of her class were sheep and pigs (I think). The older children were permitted to play human roles. It was our first time seeing S. participate in a concert like this, and I, predictably (for anyone who was at our wedding) had a tear or two to my eye.

The concert began with an 'all school' rendition of Mary's Boy Child. The song, due to the disparate age and skill levels of the enthusiastic participants, had a lilting dubstep/football chant-like quality, punctuated as it was by the 808 synthesizer played admirably by a teacher. The older children's interventions were delivered with oddly comical timing. At one point, when Mary was departing Bethlehem, a five year old girl sadly intonated: "And she was lucky because she had a donkey to ride on." Anno and I were the only ones to find that funny!

S. spent much of the time alternately winking at Anno or myself, wrestling with her fellow cow An., or even at times mouthing some of the words to some of the songs. Some photos below.

- Cows and sheep celebrating after tearing the roof off during the performance.

- Well played S.!

In more pedestrian developments, we are to move into our permanent house on Friday, and the team has decidedly mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it will be nice to shed the sense of transience and start some semblance of the nesting process. On the other, our shipment has been delayed in Mombassa for reasons unclear (would that baby J. could intervene here) so there will be an unavoidable indoor camping element to the exercise. Thanks to G and E Collins for lending us duvets etc. to make this a bit more bearable.

The phalanx of contractors in my employ has generally proved to be an able and honest bunch. I've had my share of 'dog ate my homework' excuses and certainly no lack of blown deadlines, but on balance we should have security, hot water, a non-leaky roof, freshly sanded floors, a sturdy fence, and sweet sweet internet (for a modest USD100/month at 256 kbps!). This last is filed under necessity and not splurge!

I will post more photos once we get into the Boundary Road house this weekend!