The stockings were stacked by the window with care.
Hundreds of gifts appeared under the tinseled mango tree.
All 45 girls came up to Dad's house for biscuits, gravy and scrambled eggs to kick off the day.
Then the dinner preparations began. Every kitchen and oven on campus was enlisted to help make this massive feast to feed the 80-plus guests expected that evening. We had visitors from South Africa and the U.S. and many JBFC staff members join us to help make the JBFC Christmas merry.
The celebration began with a Christmas prayer by Marcus, translated into English by Salome. Babu (a.k.a Ron Gates) and the choir then did an a'capella rendition of "Angels in Blue Jeans" by Train that they had been working on in the days leading up to Christmas. The girls did great! Babu, on the other hand, well that's another story...
After dinner, the girls started opening their stockings and gifts. Bronxville students provided goodies for the stockings. Our South African friends, Jacques and Rene, monogrammed cosmetic bags filled with goodies for each girl.
Mama Lauren and Mama Melinda (my mom) both sent colorful homemade pillowcases over for all the girls. Jim Agnello had a JBFC baseball cap made for everyone in attendance.
We aren't sure what the girls screamed louder for -- the new fans for the dining hall or their new DVD player. Each dorm got a special treat from Bibi and Babu (a.k.a Carene [Bibi:Grandma] & Ron [Babu:Grampa] Gates), ukuleles and lessons from Babu while he's in Tanzania!
We closed the celebration with a few pambio, traditional Swahili response songs. Marcus, our assistant campus manager and resident choir director, put the icing on the cake with a very spirited version of Mambo Sawa, Sawa.
This translates to "All things are OK, OK" which they were. We hope you all had as great a day as we did.
JBFC would like to extend a special thank you to everyone who made this Christmas so special for the children of JBFC this year! We really appreciate you: Wyn Lesch, Marilyn Wulf, Jacques & Rene, Jim Agnello, and the community of Bronxville, and Carene and Ron Gates.
Melinda Wulf is JBFC's Administrative Director. This is her second Christmas at JBFC.
