Monday noon we had the workers and their families over for a Christmas lunch and presents. Josh’s family back home sent pressies for the children (minus some i forgot to mention, so i got a few more). I confess i was a bit nervous about having 20 Malagasy over on the deck for a big meal, but in the end it came together easily and we had a great time together eating, chatting, opening gifts, etc. My favourite part was at the end when they asked if they could pray for us and our family – it was an awesome feeling to stand all of us together on the deck and hear them all pray out loud together at the same time for us in Malagasy. We have been so fortunate with the workers that we have had in our home and i consider ourselves blessed by God to have the in our lives.

For those who care about such things, we made Italian Chicken Lentil Soup from the Betty Crocker cookbook. Made it in the slow-cooker the day before and then served it over rice. Josh also made a huge batch of home made mac&cheese which the Malagasy thought so novel and foreign. We had Spice Cake for dessert.

Josh and i served the plates, the adults sat out on the deck and the children out in the front garden on the grass. They were also very thrilled to have a movie on the big screen (we borrowed the MAF video projector) before and after the meal.

Despite the language barriers, we seemed to be able to communicate well among everyone.

Mme Pauline’s grandchild Miora (mirror-ah) was the doll of the party, since Asher was sleeping the whole party. What a party pooper.

This is Solo (the gardener’s) wife and her mother.

I got to be Mrs. Claus handing out all the toys.

Fanja’s middle daughter Sarah. Some of the girls got My Little Pony’s. I got magazine beaded necklaces for some, like the one i’m wearing. I also had two extra smaller shoulder bags which i gave to the oldest two girls.

The ladies each got a bag also. They’ve been watching me make them for the last 2 months, i wondered if they suspected that they were for them. I sneakily asked them in passing conversation what colours they prefered. Irene loves pink!

I dont ever know what to get men, so i came up with the idea of a can of nuts – since those cashews i got a few weeks ago were only 5,000Ar/Kg (2.50$) and i have many large tin cans with sealing lids from all the formula milk we bought for a few months.

the little boys got a Duplo set or a puzzle something or other that my Dad’s secretary sent in a gift package for the students in Judah’s school class. There was only one puzzle, so i took it out and saved it.

These children (above and below) are Mme Pauline’s grandkids.

Solo’s daughter.

Spice Cake. I bought myself a white cake stand at Shoprite that morning for the event.

Fanja, stuffing her new back with all her children’s new toys.

After dessert chatting.

Irene and her husband Eli

Fanja and her family. Her daughters are Kezia (named after one of the later daugthers of Job), Sarah, and Rebbecca, and the 5 year old boy is Joshua. I’m sorry to say that i dont remember her husband’s name because it’s a long Malagasy one.

Solo’s family. His wife’s name is Jolanda, she works at the house of a friend of mine. I know one of the daughters names is Daniella, and the 5 year old boy is Simeon.

Mme Pauline. her oldest son (whose name i dont know) is married to the lady in the red shirt, her name is Hortense. I just arranged for her to be hired at the Canadian Flyers’ house in the house formerly known as the Slaubaugh’s. That’s her 1.5 year old daughter Miora and the smallest boy down below, Rado. The other two children are Pauline’s youngest two. They always look that dour whenever i see them. Shame. I always wonder if they always are so unhappy or only when their mom makes them come to visit the vazahas. ha.

The families were all very insistent that we pass on huge thank-yous to those who sent the gifts, toys, and Christmas day chickens. They blessed you vociferously.

My parents left late last night. We gamely stayed up until 10:30 trying to appear awake, and then read online that their plane was an hour late in departing, so they’d only need to be at the airport at midnight or sometime thereafter… gah! But i think my dad could see that we were all fading fast, so he kindly put us out of our misery and they went to the airport early so we could all go to bed. Bless his heart. We had a wonderful time with them here, my only complaint was that we were so busy with traveling and having everyone here at the same time that i didnt feel as though we got a lot of time with just my parents to chat. But i suppose living in their basement every other year gives us ample time to talk. The boys, of course, hugely enjoyed the lavished attention of their grandparents and Asher and i – at the very least – missed their presence early this morning when Asher was awake before everyone else. alas. Anyway, we wish them a good trip home, a lovely winter picnic on the bridge by the Notre Dame Cathedral and await their Paris photos with anticipation. Beware anyone who ventures to visit them in the next few weeks, they’ve got ALL of the photos from all our cameras to show. haha.

 

It’s been a great day celebrating Christmas with the family out on the deck. A lovely breakfast followed by round one of presents… followed by meal prep and meal consumption, desert prep and desert consumption… and then lounging around digesting.

This (below) is a video from Judah’s Christmas program… i dont think i’ve posted it yet.

One of Asher’s favourite gifts was the Christmas card from Grandparents Plett: a musical card with a barking dog.

just a look around the after dinner table.

we decorated the tree (some more) on Christmas eve whilst drinking hot chocolate and eating Christmas goodies… and then after the baby went to bed we watched The Santa Clause.

Asher and Auntie Brielle

opening pressies

that’s me. i posted it because my husband almost never takes photos of me, so this is a momentous occasion.

opening more presents.

here’s Eric reading the card from Grampa Reimer. Thanks for the gifts Grampa and Grama Hilda!

this photo looks silly, but really, the gift made us chortle with glee and lick our lips

Judah got a lot of Spiderman stuff for Christmas.

and Josh got a special gift from Matthew S. haha. I wonder if his wife informed him of this.
the story is, at Rhonda and Matthew’s departure garage sale i discovered these blue Jets sweatpants. I declared to Rhonda that not many people would recognize the true value of those sweats and she came up with the idea to gift them to Josh for Christmas from Matthew. ha. I thought it a hilarious idea myself. As you can see he was quite thrilled with them.

although we all agreed not to give gifts amongst the adults this year, i confessed that i had already bought some for my sisters in law before we made that decision… and i bought my mother a jewel encrusted bracelet while she was standing next to me at the jeweler – i ordered it in french and she was none the wiser. heehee.

we did gifts out on the deck, dragged the tree out also.

My parents bought Asher’s Christmas gift last week at Shoprite. It was a Huge hit!! He’s a teddy bear kinda guy.

---

Another lovely Christmas day spent (after a lot of hours in the kitchen) enjoying Christmas luncheon on the deck. Our only complaint – which the Manitobans refused to complain about – was that it was too hot in the sun for those who werent under the shade canopy we rigged up with an old sheet to protect us from the sun. I will say, if i may, that by now i reckon i can pull off the organization of a Christmas day meal without much stress – everyone helped a lot and by 5:15pm we’ve only the desert dishes to do after stuffing ourselves like the proverbial turkey. On the menu this year was mostly traditional dishes – laid out festively on a not-as-traditional holiday table out on the deck:
-two large(ish) chickens bought via our house help lady’s neighbour for 17,000Ar/pc (ca. 9$) which Josh and the guys BBQ’d, both with a home made rub, one impaled on beer can. They were moist and oh so delicious. Below: Geoff making the rub.

Josh and Geoff prepping the birds and the Bar-Bees

– two batches of stuffing baked in oven a la Jocelyne. As opposed to this last Thanksgiving, i used the right spice this time ’round and which called for much loud shouting of excitement from the cook when i smelled the ‘right’ smell when they came out of the oven.

(ok, i realize that in this photo i look like i’ve gained 40pounds… and that rumors may develop regarding more r.pletts on the way: just so we’re all clear, i’m NOT pregnant!!)

– i will say here however that because we shipped off our two MAF issued ovens, the gas one whose oven didnt work and the electric one that was falling apart at the seams but which we used for the oven, to sell at the MAF garage sale this last week we did most of our Christmas meal baking in a new gas stove which caused no end of frustration. Note to future self: do not try learning to use a new oven the day before Christmas!
– two stellar salads: one with spinach from my back garden picked by Eric and Lara and put together by Brielle,

and the fruit salad composed by Brielle. Wowzers. it was stunning.

– and the table decorations/set up was done by Lara – also uber lovely!

– Mashed potatoes and gravy made by mom.
– the unending stream of dishes washed by dad and many others.

– Asher duty taken by all.
– the other unending stream of pressies, unwrapped by Judah intermittently throughout the day.
– pumpkin pie with praline topping and whipped cream made by me enjoyed with coffee and Amarula (a gift from G&B)

Josh carving the birds.

it was a pretty fantastic lunch, made better by all the hard work by everyone.

 

i was hoping to do a lot more of this during the week, but somehow with teething it didnt work out that way. shame.

this is the family photo we didnt choose for Christmas cards. too dark. but anyway, that’s all of us.

one of the important agenda items for the guys during our time at ile aux nattes was going deep sea fishing. the day they wanted to go, however, dawned windy which meant we could all sleep in past 4:45am. but they got to go the next morning, the day of our departure. from all reports it was a great time and only a few people got sea sick. LOL.

Eric with his barracuda

geoffy with his… fish.

Josh told everyone that he had the prettiest fish… when it was alive.

Brielle with her fish. That thing she’s wearing around her waist isnt a fanny pack, like i originally thought when i saw these photos. It’s the holder for the butt of your fishing rod when you’re trying to heave the big sucker into the boat.

 
 
while they were heaving fish/their guts on the boat and frying themselves in the merciless sun i was lolling about taking a last swim in the ocean. heavenly. it is truly amazing that we can vacation in such a lovely spot every two years or so.

Eric and Lara

here they are paying the bills at the end of our stay. see if you can spot the gangsta rolls they’ve each got in hand. haha.

on the pirogue ride back to the airstrip.

This is the one token photo from Judah’s school Christmas program. I might upload some video footage if i have the time some time.

We just got back today from Ile aux Nattes, where we were from last friday until wednesday. It was HOT, especially at night when the wind stopped blowing and the air just hung heavy inside our little grass huts on the beach… hung heavy with mosquitoes. We’re waiting now to see who might present with malaria in the next 10 days: “Happy Christmas!” Apart from that nightly discomfort and malarial minded anxiety the time at the coast was superb! Except for poor Asher who started teething again the 2nd night and thus schlemmed the rest of the time. Alas. The sand was soft, the sea warm, the air HOT, the food lovely, etc. etc. etc.

On the nights that we slept well the mornings after were so heavenly. Unbelievably so. The air was so clean, the water so soft and warm… <sigh>

Our bungalows (which would be to the left of this photo) looked out over this beach to the ocean towards the east, which means we saw the sun rise from our bed. <sigh>

 Judah continued his fast-track swimming lessons and was snorkeling out in the deep water by the second day. He LOVED it! When i asked periodically if he was having a good time on the vacation and what his favourite part was he always was quick to mention the snorkeling!

Although the place we stayed at is run by a South African, they unfortunately still stay true to the french custom of eating after 7pm, which is nice if you’re out and about doing sun and surf things until the sun goes down, but for kids it’s a bit of a challenge. Here we are waiting for our dinner.

Uncle Geoff and his nephews.

grampa.

Lara and Eric reading.

this is “the point” where we did most of our swimming and the staging point for most of the snorkeling. if you think it looks amazing in the photo, you should see it in real life. <sigh> it’s pure heaven. the point was a 3 minute walk from the place we stayed at.
 

Pirogues moored on the route to ‘the point’ where we swam every day.

Brielle (above) and Dad (below) getting ready to snorkel.

You may remember that Judah got a new fishing rod for his birthday. He was SO stoked to try it out when we got to the island. In fact, i think he was asking to go fishing the minute our pirogue hit the sand on ile aux nattes. ha.

 

 
when we had crab for supper one night we got cool ‘cracker’ tools and aprons that exactly matched the table cloth. what fun!

there were lemurs at the place we stayed, a new addition since the last time we were there.

…
I still have photos to upload, but Josh says it’s time for bed (9:30) and we are all quite knackered and looking forward to sleeping in not-stifling heat and not with mossie nets worrying about getting bitten.

I’ll leave you with this lovely family snorkel pic.
see more tomorrow.

Phew! It’s been a full few days last. Geoff and Brielle came (late, thanks to Air Mad, like he mentioned), and we left immediately the next morning for Andasibe/the rainforest.

The day of their (late night) arrival the rest of us spent a while at the souvenir market looking for gifts for friends and then lunched at the Combava. So nice.

Judah took to the no-kiddie-only-deep-water-pool at Vakona Lodge like a fish. He put on his arm bands and decided then and there that he was no longer afraid of the deep end – and voila! – there he went. From then on he enjoyed the pool like never before.

There was a lot of reading and lounging by the pool while we were there. Of course we did the hike through the forest looking for lemurs (more on that later) and the lemur island, but apart from that and eating we were at the pool because it was just that hot out. i think i was the only one who complained about the temperature though.

here’s part of the hike – spiders!

unfortunately for most of us, Asher was exactly due for his morning nap when we were hiking quietly through the forest looking for birds and lemurs, which means he started shrieking and schleming and crying… <sigh> i think he was also a bit disconcerted with the whole forest environment while he felt he should really be in a quiet room with his teddy and a milk bottle. in the end, after a lot of shushing and bouncing and whatnotall Josh took him back to the parking lot and we hiked on and saw… not much else. alas.

Josh with the (finally) sleeping Asher.

A drink in the pool on a hot day. can life get any better than that?

Asher’s new-to-him pool tube-shirt.

We have 5+ cameras to pool photos from on this trip, so there may be more in the day to come. Just to warn you though, we leave for the tropical island gettaway from this tropical island on friday morning until the 22nd, so until then you wont hear from us again.

this is my one! token lemur shot (taken by josh).

asher liked to pull the lemur’s hair.

i tried so hard to pose a brothers photo with the lemurs, but by the time we started the staging the lemurs were so full of bananas that they didnt want to come anymore. bah!

this is about as good as i got.

This morning we were at Judah’s kindergarten Christmas program. It was entertaining as always. I’ll post some vids tomorrow.

Here we are eating our last lunch at Vakona before the long drive back home. I gotta say, in the (only) 3 times i’ve been to Andasibe, this was by far my favorite time because of the weather and the time we could spend at the pool. So nice.

…of mozambique brings me and my new bride to madagascar for not 12, but 28 days of Malagasy Christmas with family–me being geoff, youngest brother of joc, with new bride, brielle (formally beaudin).
My wife and i are spending 7 months volunteering in South Africa, and are ‘vacationing’ to another amazing African country, just over the mozambique channel, for a month. What makes this particular skip and a jump over to Mada so awesome is that my entire immediate family will also be there for Christmas!

Brielle and i are on day four in Madagascar, we arrived last of the 3 family couples at midnight on the 11th (AirMad delayed and re-routed our flight. merci airmad). After finally arriving, sharing a few stories of the last few months, we had a short night before we were off the the rain forest. Deeep in the forest, a 4 hour drive east from Tana, we found ourselves in a pristine location to spend our first 2 days with our long lost family. Pool swimming, lemurs, good food, cheap beers (cheaper even than S.A.), and the highest tree climb ive ever done high above the rain forest canopy (ca.60-80feet up) were some of the highlights of the trip. Not to mention it was all with family that we havnt seen in 2 (mom, dad, eric, lara)and 11 months(josh, joc, judah, asher).
With those activities behind us already, im looking forward to ile saint marie this week end; snorkeling, fishing, relaxing, then exploring tana, tennis, markets, taking my wife out for a 5 star day on her bday on the 31st. And then, for all the extra fun stuff we have planned for after the rest of the family goes back Canada’ward a week and a half before Brielle and i leave. heh heh. we’ll see.

geoff.

Greetings,
My name is Lara.  For those of you who don’t know me I am Eric’s wife…Joc & Josh’s sister-in-law.  Joc has asked me to write a few words about my experience in Madagascar so far and I most willingly agreed. 
Eric and I decided to join the Reimer/Plett Christmas celebration in Madagascar this year.  We have been here for five full days and I am already feeling more at ease with the different cultural surroundings.  Before we left Canada I was aware that there would be a certain level of culture shock when we arrived.  My father is a pilot so I have had the privileged of seeing and experiencing different cultures my entire life.  However, I will say that I found the first couple days in Madagascar to be a bit overwhelming.  Perhaps I wasn’t prepared for the level of poverty that exists here or my in ability to communicate with the local people.  The wee-bit of broken French I know is just not sufficient.
So far I am finding myself inspired and touched by what I have seen here.  The people are very friendly and appreciate the things they have.
One observation that has stuck with me is the abundance of stray animals, particularly dogs, on the streets of Madagascar.  I am very passionate about animal rights advocacy and I donate time and resources to this cause in Canada.  It hurts my heart to see them scrounge for food and listen to them bark as I fall asleep at night.  However, I realize there are not enough resources available to feed the people never mind the stray animals.  It’s not for lack of compassion and caring it’s for lack of resources and knowledge.  I was extremely pleased to see an animal SOS down the road from where Joc & Josh live.  Eric and I plan to visit next week.  It just goes to show you that God touches us all and encourages us to make the world a better place in different ways.
I have a great deal of respect for what Joc & Josh do here.  I look forward to what the next couple weeks will bring.
Cheers,
Lara

ok i think this might be a repeat. sorry

Here are Eric and Lara making their stellar supper this evening – it was their duty day – dont they appear to be looking endearingly at each other in domestic bliss?

My dad helped to colour the fondant for the cake. What a trouper.

Here we are sucking in our guts for the benefit of the photo. Can you tell? haha

Grandma and the birthday boy

doesnt that look like pure fun? running in the sprinkler during the birthday party.

 

today we had Judah’s birthday party that was postponed from last week Friday.

I’ve always loved the fact that my boy had a high-summer birthday in December! Pool parties and water are generally on our party itinerary… except when we’re in Canada on furlough that is. ha. If you remember, we gave Judah 2 double barrel water guns for his birthday last Friday, they were to have matched with the take-home treats we gave the invitees at the party – mini water pistols. We had 2 buckets of water balloons prepared for the party, so everyone was heavily armed for an afternoon of wet fun.

These brilliant photos are courtesy of Josh’s new toy: a telephoto lens for our Nikon. He’s pretty stoked about it.

My parents were also in the thick of things. My dad was in charge of refilling ammo.

“Hang on a moment…”

“Ok, now i’m ready!”

Judah’s band of brothers: Fanilo (Malagasy/German), Seth and Cole (American), Judah (Canadian), Josiah (American).

We had birthday cake (wacky cake and lemon pound cake alternating in a 4 layer with butter cream icing and fondant – which took me all day – literally – to make. I got the decorating idea from this blog entry. We had flags – a la Eric and Lara – on the cake to continue the flag/banner theme. Dad and Josh helped with the red balls, mom made the cakes and i put it all together. Phew! exhausting!!), and popcorn in painted brown paper bags.

These photos are all JOsh’s picks from the big camera. Stay tuned for my picks and those from my red camera. Sorry for the overload.

Eric and Asher

look how the flags match the cake colours. haha

day three….or whatever day it is. We’ve had a few more activities, some of them…
- gone downtown to have lunch at the Cookie Shoppe; this is the place that jocelyn raves about constantly and it’s actually pretty good. You really need to want to go there though…traffic in the downtown area is brutal. Imagine going up hill on a street barely wide enough for the vehicle, a one way thankfully, when the flow stops…it’s hot, likely about 35C inside the car, A/C switched off because the engine is getting closer to the red zone, although it’s not exactly adequate anyway, electric operated windows don’t all function…you get the picture, eh?
- downtown is also where the big market is located; because I didn’t bring a hat from home, and because i REALLY need a hat when it’s sunny in Tana in summertime. We venture into the vast labyrinth of kiosks and vendors to buy a hat, wandering deeper into the market searching for a hat vendor. We walked quite far into the vast depths of that place with thoughts of Deb becoming separated from the rest of us and not being able to find her way back to the car…scary!!! Even scarier when you consider that she could be carrying Asher (she wasn’t…i was). Bought a hat for 7000Ar ($3.50) and am planning to buy a few more before i leave ’cause that’s such a bargain.
- played tennis with josh 3 times (seriously thinking about taking lessons from one of pros who also speaks some english). I’m not sure if josh is ‘playing with me’ but i managed to win at least a few games.
- grandma has spent some time in the pool with judah who has become quite confident in the water; i may even go into the pool yet myself.
- went to the Raphia for dinner last night. Jumped on the trampoline with judah and asher in the dark, enjoyed some fine Indian cuisine, washed down, of course, with some THB.
- visited judah’s school, met his teacher and all his classmates. Judah’s french skills are apparently getting quite good, although maintains he can’t speak all that well.