It's this time of the year again

Whether you believe a lot, a little or not at all, in God in whatever form, chances are you are looking forward to Christmas, good food, meeting again people dear to you and exchanging gifts. These days, "they" (the shops, mostly) start massaging us towards spending a lot of money in less than essential stuff as soon as we are done buying school supplies. There is absolutely no way we can ignore it, and bringing up children in such an environment has its challenges, especially when you would rather teach them to make a distinction between "need" and "want".

I've been avoiding the excesses of Christmas for years, and completely dispensed with celebrating it (or birthdays) until my daughter started regular school and began coming home with claims of "that's how it is done everywhere" (bling dresses and shoes, elaborate hairdos, huge birthday parties, one-extracurricular-activity-a-day, to name a few). Now I feel the pressure to acknowledge that some days in the year must be merry because the calendar says so, but I'm still reluctant to let go of what I think is important, which includes sharing our relative material comfort with the less fortunate.

When my sister and I were small children, about the age my daughter is now, my mother would bake Alsatian Christmas cookies (bredele) and take us to hospitals to visit senior citizens who were abandoned there by their relatives over the holiday season. We would bring them cookies, our smiles and this unique grace children have, and visit with them for an hour or so. To this day, more than 40 years later, I consider this one of the most formative activities my mother devised for us. No matter that I would sometimes feel faint because of hospital smells and being a bit overwhelmed seeing very old, weak and sick people.

Our circumstances today are a bit different, we live in West Africa where I doubt relatives will drop grandma in hospital come Christmas to take her back once the holidays are over and done with. Besides, I have a special needs child who might not be able to behave for any length of time in a hospital. So when I read online that some people do what they call "Reverse Advent Calendar", I knew I had found something we can do as a family and that my daughter may understand.

I will post every day until 24 December pictures of our Reverse Advent Calendar basket getting filled  with goods, which I hope will be relevant and useful in our context. Enjoy the coming weeks and remember: "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

Today's discovery - A dilettante feminist

I'm not very good at being a staunch feminist, but at the very least I'm a decent dilettante. Or so I want to believe. My interests in women's achievements are manifold, ranging from (economic) development to science and arts, among others.

Today I discovered a paintress I had never heard of until now and wanted to share this gem with whoever happens to stumble on my blog.

Her name is Paula Modersohn-Becker. Although she had a very short life and an even shorter career, her works are powerful and will remain etched in your mind. I'm certain they will in mine, at the very least.

This one, titled Child's Head with White, strikes me particularly. The child reminds me of a sickly baby I met and was able to nurse back to health. This was and still is the most extraordinary experience in my whole life.

I'm also partial to the one below. A depiction of motherly love, nurturing and protecting her baby. The title is Reclining Woman with Child.

It's my pleasure to share my discoveries. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do. Neither the works nor the pictures are mine. They were found online and I linked the titles to the source. If you are the owner of the pictures and consider their use inappropriate, please contact me. Infringing copyright is the last thing I would want to do.

My beautiful bed

After seven months of dithering, I finally found the perfect bed for my huge bedroom. I couldn't opt for an ordinary bed, which would have been lost in this immensity. I'm only slightly exaggerating: I measured its area at 62sqm, that is about 667sq ft (inclusive of dressing room, bathroom and terrace).

Last week I saw a nice carved bed on the roadside, but after enquiries, it appeared that it was king size, whereas all the mattresses here are only doubles. The carpenter told me he had a double bed in the making and showed me rough planks he had only just started carving. Nonetheless, I liked what I saw and decided to put a downpayment on it.

The bed was delivered yesterday and look at how beautiful it is!

The carpenter who did it is an artist, I think, even though he calls himself "just" a carpenter. There are quite a few wonderful discoveries one can make here. I guess it is why I love this country so much.

A word about "fair trade": I did not discuss the price. I know it is standard procedure and it labels me as a "foreigner" when I do not, but I found the price he quoted "fair", and thought it was a good thing if he felt that he made easy money and I that I made a bargain and obtained a beautiful, unique work of art.