Ahhhh poinsettia plants! Just the sight of them evokes so many memories of Christmas as a kid. Every year my mom (Nicole's mom) would go to Costco and purchase at least two of the BIGGEST poinsettia plants she could find. Purchasing the poinsettias always marked the beginning of the Christmas season in our household.
Mom would place the poinsettias on either side of the hearth and we would all be instructed not to touch them. This was tricky for us kids - you see, in our house the fireplace functioned as a soccer goal. And putting delicate plants on the goal posts was a recipe for disaster. During the holidays, we had to move our indoor field to accommodate the poinsettias. But without fail, even with our best efforts, we would break off HUGE portions of the plants. If it wasn't the soccer ball, it was the vacuum or some other random object in our hands that would sever the limbs of the beautiful plant. As a sibling group we would always come to the aid of the guilty one and try our best to mend the broken limb and nurse the plant back to full health without my mom noticing.
As we look forward to our first Christmas at Langano, I can't help but smile because the road on our compound is lined with poinsettia trees! :) Every time I walk down the road, wonderful memories of my family gathered together to celebrate the birth of our Savior flood my mind. I'm so thankful that God has provided a reminder of family and old traditions as we celebrate thousand of miles apart.
