Christmastime

The boys arrived safely--YAY! Cam's plane from London came in at the same time as two planes from Riyadh full of pilgrims returning from the Haj. Many people were still wearing the white robes of the Haj. There were quite a few women pilgrims, one sticking in my mind, a lady who just semed to glow.

The Beirut Moores are off on a flurry of travel. First I get to take B and C around Lebanon some this week while T is still in school: Tyre (Sur) in the south, Baalbek in the east and Byblos to the north. Then we are off to Aleppo, Syria (hopefully--we hear Americans may have trouble at the border) and on to Turkey and eventually to Greece. That is the plan.

A marvelous thing: I noticed (at our fancy health club, of all places) a creche scene under a Christmas tree that looked fundamentally different than we see in the States. It was a papier mache-type creation, but not our typical manger scene. But there were the wise men, animals, baby Jesus. I realized it was meant to be a cave. Caves are stables here, or can be. Tom points out how often we have seen livestock housed in caves in the Middle East. I think of all the Christians, and others, over time who have taken refuge in the caves lining the valleys in this part of the world.

We bought a cheap plastic Bethlehem scene featuring camels.