Christmas wreaths

The wreath for the central table

The past few days have been so filled with Christmas preparations and closure of documentary work before the year ends, I didn't have time to update this blog. It's been late nights to bed and early mornings to work. But hopefully everything is settled so we can end the year with no backlog.

Then it was sending Christmas greetings to the various people and institutions. And there was no time to clean my office so I guess this week I won't receive visitors there. Mind you I still have to work on Christmas. There are students writing their mini-thesis with me and they want to take advantage of the Christmas holidays to write their work ... so they come to consult me. So in reality though school is closed, I still have to teach.

One of the 7 small wreath for the
dining table

I had to teach our new Indian sisters how to make Christmas wreaths for our refectory (dining room). I had to collect pine leaves from Ratisbon monastery in the north, then pine cones from Independence Park a short distance down, then south to Mamilla cemetery to pick berries... all at 4am in order to avoid people staring at me! I had to make 7 small wreaths to be put along our dining tables and one large wreath for the central table.

As Christmas is 36 hours away, we receive news that muslims in Egypt attacked christians and a church. It happens every year. Christian persecution is real and rampant but no one wants to talk about it. If it happened to any other religion, it would be in the headlines.

Damascus Gate barricaded

Meantime Israel was braced for violence yesterday - Friday - when Palestinian leaders called for a Day of Fire to protest Trump's unilateral declaration. Along the northern boundaries there were fierce fighting, as also in the south in Gaza. But in Jerusalem there was a tense silence. Israel is trying to avoid provocation by removing soldiers as much as possible even though barriers are still in place at Damascus Gate. I was surprised to find not a single soldier along the street at Gate when I went out to pick berries at 4am this morning.