Thoughts on leaving Egypt: but first, our last Christmas here.

After two and a half years here, I would say we’ve gotten pretty comfortable. We know what’s available, where to find things, who to talk to, and have traveled and visited enough sites that it’s easy for us to get around. There are still a couple of places I would like to visit, and a few things I would like to do. We have yet to go to Dahab. We never got those diver’s certificates. We haven’t had any camel meat yet. I still want to get some books bound by a bookbinder. We never had a tailor make us clothes from fabric we chose. We didn’t really end up exploring the Middle East. I wish we had spent more weekends out in Wadi Degla, and we still need to get some nice family photos taken by the pyramids. We still have time and I know we’ll get at least a couple of more things taken off our list before we leave next summer. My point here is though, that I’m starting to settle into the idea of leaving. Leaving Cairo and the life we have led here for these past years, to venture into something new, wherever and whatever that might be.

But first, our last Egyptian Christmas. It will be a little different this year – not like our past traumatic and less traumatic Egyptian Christmases, since my mom brought us a real Christmas ham, and since we got some nice Christmas presents for the boys in the US this past summer. We’ll still go for a walk in the desert though, probably, and I’m pretty certain there won’t be any snow. I also have a feeling this is the last Christmas our older boys believe in Santa. I think they’re already too old for it, but somehow they haven’t figured it out, and nobody has given it away. Prof. Husband keeps teasing August “So August, how DOES Santa actually deliver presents to all the children in the world all in one night, and how come most kids here in Egypt don’t get anything?” It’s only a matter of time before he figures it out.