I'll bet that your Christmas party didn't...

Just when I thought that I'd seen everything, that Bahrain could no longer surprise me, I attended the church Christmas party the week before my trip to Israel. Wow. I think it would be pretty safe to say that there were some rather unique elements to it. For example, I'll bet that your nativity didn't feature angels wearing hospital gowns and garland, wise men bearing gifts of a potted plant, a plastic toy house, and an another unidentified object, a Jesus made of random bits of newspaper wrapped in a paper towel, and a Mary who had a good 6 inches on Joseph (and failed to crack a smile all night).
I would also wager that the children at your party didn't favor guests with a rather sexual dance to Flo-Rida's "Shorty Got Low." I'm not sure where they learned their moves, as MTV is definitely not an approved channel over here. I would post the lyrics for those of you who are not familiar with the song, but my mom reads this blog, and I don't think she would approve.

And finally, I'll bet that you didn't arrive at your party with a trunk and a back seat filled to the brim with pads (or sanitary napkins, as the Brits like to call them). We were doing a service project for the abused housemaids who ran away to the Filipino embassy, and I volunteered to buy 86 packages of pads for the hygiene kits we were putting together. Let's just say that I got PLENTY of odd looks and comments (in Arabic and Tagalog) when I made not one, not two, but three trips to three different grocery stores, and filled my shopping cart completely each time with packages of pads. I imagine that when my 12-year old Brit friend Josh asked me if I needed help with anything, he had no idea I would make him unload the pads from my car. He didn't even complain. And that, my friends, is true Christmas spirit (which I am happy to report was abounding at our party, despite it's oddities).