A Moroccan Christmas

The kids had left out the stockings the night before for Père Noël. Jaxon was really excited that we had a fireplace this year so that he could come down the chimney. Although we have told him that he isn't real... I guess he isn't quite ready to give it up, yet.

The kids opened their gifts by the fire.

Jonas helped Eva

After a long and lazy morning, we headed out. Everyone was so sweet and kept on wishing us a Merry Christmas. It was so nice, even though they were not celebrating it.

The kids had a good time in this woman's shop. We spent a long time there. She told me about her family and about the Koran. Daniel talked to her 18-year-old son about his plans. The boys watched Arabic music videos. Except when the call to prayer began, the shopkeeper turned off the videos so the screen read, "No signal." She explained that they always turn off the TV when the prayer begins. From them on, however, whenever Jaxon saw a TV screen saying "No signal" he would say, "Oh, see, it is prayer time."

She was very excited the get a picture with baby girl. We bought a silver teapot from her and she made me promise to pass it on the Eva when she gets married.

Next we located a restaurant for lunch. I ordered lamb and fig tagine and Daniel got vegetarian coucous due to Jaxon's insistence.

The boys got pasta with butter and were thrilled. Honestly, the food wasn't the best we had had, but the waiter was so sweet and the chef who came out to meet us was so nice that we couldn't be disappointed. They were so nice when Jonas broke a glass on the floor. We left them a nice tip.

What better than to go to the beach on Christmas?

This poor Berber woman kept on trying to sell us wool hats. Really, maybe the beach isn't the best place to try to sell them...

After the beach we headed over to have our Moroccan hamman experience. This one allowed families to go together, rather than separating men and women. One of the workers tried to hold Eva outside, but she didn't cooperate as we expected. I think she was already worn out from the day. So we brought her in for a little bit, but we didn't want her to get to hot, so Daniel finally took her out and missed the salt scrub. The boys had a good time, though and especially appreciated the rose petals and candles.

    We completed our Christmas by enjoying one last fire in Essaouira