Christmas in Abu Dhabi

We had a very different Christmas this year; in a country that does not recognize the holiday but because they want to be welcoming and tolerant of the many different religions and cultures they put out a few decorations to buy and a few fake trees to make it seem more like the holidays. We bought a little tree, I put lights and candles around and downloaded a ton of Christmas music from I-tunes. Our church here had a wonderful, lively party with incredible entertainment, songs and a special manger scene by the little primary children. Our church ward here is about 70% Filipino; so we are really getting to know their very spiritual, lively culture. They sing with such gusto and very much love and rely on the Lord; they have taught us much. Bob has had a terrible cold the last 10 days so we have put off our travels to Nepal until later and will just be traveling around the 6 Emirates in the UAE in a few days. Can you believe a cold in 78-80 degree weather??!! He didn't get his flu shot before leaving! Hard for him who likes to be on the go to spend his time hangin' out with a horrible cold so we've been layin' low and reading like crazy!