Amy Gwartney generously offered to lend me a gomez to wear. That is the traditional dress of this central region of Uganda. It took two Ugandan women to help me get the gomez on properly. I wore it over other clothes that I was going to be wearing during a later presentation, so it got pretty warm. I didn't think to take a photo, and it would be too much of an ordeal to put it back on. But here is a photo of several of us on stage in our gomezi.
The next clue that this was definitely a Ugandan celebration is that there was an interpreter for everything. I was asked to offer the opening prayer, which I prayed in Luganda, as best as I could. Then we had a time of praise and worship singing songs in Luganda and English. Our family is beginning to learn many of the Luganda songs, but we still don't always know what the words mean.
After the time of worship and a few words from people in leadership, the presentations from the different departments began. Most of my family thought the security guards dancing was the highlight of the day, but my photo is just of them standing and singing. 
I was invited to sing and dance with the house moms and the childcare department. It was so much fun! All the missionaries also sang a song that Sheila Warfield creatively adapted to fit our situation.
After several fun presentations, lunch was served. There was rice, matoke, potatoes, beef, pork, chicken, cabbage, cookies and a soda for everyone. Well, some things were gone when it was time for the missionaries to eat, but we were able to serve all of the staff. Eating meat is a special occasion here.
After lunch, cake and a few more presentations, Claudia concluded the program by calling just about everyone up onto the stage to help her sing "Feliz Navidad." 
Then all of the staff were given their Christmas gifts. The gift was a basin with some sugar, rice, soap, a towel, and some other small things. The basins are used for bathing, washing clothes, washing dishes, washing food before cooking and many other things. 
After the staff received their basins, they were then sent outside to collect their meat. GSF slaughters a cow or bull every year and divides the meat among the employees. You should have seen the excitement as everyone went outside to the truck to get their meat! 
The next day Daniel Iya had planned a small Christmas celebration for the men who are working on our house. I baked two cakes for them and Daniel gave out similar gift basins. He also bought English and Luganda Bibles to give to the men as a gift. As with most celebrations here, there were additional guests. One of those men asked if he could also get a Bible. He borrowed one from another man and and began looking through it and reading. I was so encouraged to see his enthusiasm, and Daniel said that he would get another Bible for this man. Daniel spoke again to the workers about Jesus and his goal that they would all know Jesus and grow in him throughout this project. David also offered some suggestions to anyone who had not read the Bible before about how to begin. Please pray for these men who now have their own copy of God's Word.
Friday and Saturday were fun opportunities to celebrate the birth of Jesus with many Ugandans. We are also looking forward to celebrating Christmas on Wednesday and Thursday with our family, our missionary team, our neighbors in the village and our GSF kids. I am thankful that even though culture varies, we can still celebrate Jesus, who came from heaven to earth, who lived a perfect life, who died for our sins and who rose again to give us new life! In the midst of parties and presents, I don't want to forget that Jesus is why we celebrate!
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