is for Christmas to be here already!!  The best part is, everyone still Believes.

“Mom, Santa is a special baby, like God.  And the elves are special babies too.”

“Santa has to get started a few days ahead of time, to get all the way to Zambia.”

“Santa left on the price tag!”  (That would be a negligent elf….)

The weather is not exactly Christmasy.  It oscillates between this:

And this:

And then the bugs come out!

Totally gross.  All I want for Christmas is for the bugs to go away!  They didn’t seem so bad last year but this year they’re really getting to me.  Termites and beetles, the occasional roach in the bathtub.  Mike bought a kilo of caterpillars for our housekeeper, who eats them as a snack.  They eat the termites too, waking up in the night after the rains to catch them by the hundreds and fry them up for breakfast.  This is something about Zambia I will never stomach.  Mike has a picture but he’ll have to post that one, I can’t even look at it!

it’s also watermelon season here.

And mango season again, mmm.  Here is a mango from our yard!

And some flowers from the yard, too.

Mom, they are selling these by the hundreds in the grocery stores, I guess part of Zambia’s British heritage.  I had to try it.

Complete with spices, nuts, and glacee cherries.  Don’t worry!  It’s edible, but there’s no competition compared to Grandma’s!

We all prefer the Russian Tea Cakes!

And you know, we don’t really mind the rain :).