#Christmas

Christmas lights and decorations aren’t a big thing in Joburg. A huge percentage of the city’s houses are behind high walls, and a huge percentage of the city’s residents leave town for the Christmas/summer holidays. So most Joburgers don’t bother with outdoor Christmas decorations, but I recently learned about a notable exception: Moray Drive in Bryanston.

I’m grateful that it’s sunny in Joburg on Christmas Day, even though the weather forecast predicted clouds and rain.

I’m grateful that my sister flew here from America to be with me, and that she decided to stage an impromptu photo session in the aloe tree this morning. That was a really nice Christmas present. Here is a photo strip documenting the experience.

I gave myself a new blog for Christmas.

It’s a good time to reinvent myself. It’s been a heck of a year. I’ve experienced immense joy in 2011, along with unimaginable grief and despair. The last two months in particular have left me feeling like someone removed my internal organs, beat them to a pulp with a hammer, then placed them back inside my body. And the year ain’t over yet.