Nativity Church

December 8, 2001

Christmas Market

The rescheduled Christmas Market went off today without a hitch. A very enthusiastic crowd gathered at 2pm in Manger Square across the street from Nativity Church for the first annual show. There were booths representing over a dozen nations, food, music, balloon animals, clowns, and lots of Christmas items. It was a nice day and sales were brisk.

I beat the Christmas shopping rush by stopping in on my friends from Ibdaa last night. They had some handicrafts made by ladies at Dheisheh Refugee Camp. Since I recently lost my camera bag, I bought a nice replacement. My old bag was a boring black. This one is a multicolored blue. It's too pretty to lose.

The Oasis had a booth at the Christmas market. The Oasis is a peper-recycling and gift-production workshop in the Bethlehem area that provides an opportunity for adults with mental disabilities to engage in meaningful work and contribute positively to Palestinian society (from their brochure which I picked up).

It was nice to see so many happy faces in Bethlehem today. My good friend (and landlord) Zoughbi Zoughbi, founder of Wi'am, had a great time.