FW: Belated Xmas greetings

["Maryanne Stroud Gabbani" <maryanne@ratbusters.net>]

Naturally, even with Christmas, Egypt has to do things differently. Because
the majority of the Christians here are Copts (like Greek Orthodox, but with
an even older organisation) the official Egyptian Christmas is January 7,
but my family and a bunch of other "feriners" celebrate either on Christmas
Eve (the Germans) or Christmas Day. (We also get two Easters, but that comes
later this spring)

My son has decided to be independent and work part time in college so he and
his girlfriend saved up to get cheap tickets to Portugal to stay with
friends of ours. My daughter (she moved home from New York for the year and
will return in the fall) and I had planned to join them, but my work and
hers kept us here instead. We both announced that we would be unavailable to
the normal Egyptian working world on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and we
joined a friend and her daughter at Babsi's Brilliant Barn* (a place so
lovely that it deserves a trademark). We goofed around with friends and
horses and dogs...I took the Great Dane, the Dalmation and three of the Rats
with me to play with Babsi's Rottweiler and the neighbours' Great Dane. Babs
and I took out two of the horses to walk in the desert, her gelding Mashalla
that she trains for endurance (who a year ago was a killer stallion and now
is an "almost pussycat" gelding due to Babsi's loving care) and my new gift
horse (he needed a home) a half Appaloosa of all things, Just Jack. Jack has
spent most of his 5 years in a state of sensory deprivation, living in a box
with evil grooms, and has been learning that humans are actually very nice
animals and that the world is not a 3 X 4 metre box. So he's a riot to ride
in the country and spends all his time essentially saying "Omigod! Look at
that!" The lovely thing about him is that all the abuse he suffered didn't
turn him bitter and he is a trusting and brave soul, although utterly
unconditioned. So we go for long walks, introduce him to water buffalo and
camels, meet other riders and show him that laundry CAN'T jump off the
clothes line. His spook is a half-step to the side and if he needs to jump a
ditch...well, I hang on and pray. His sire and dam were prize-winning
jumpers (Dutch Warblood and Appaloosa something or other, respectively).

The weather was perfect Egyptian winter weather, t-shirts in the sun and a
jacket after sundown, and we met a lot of other riders enjoying a ramble
around Sakkara and Abu Sir. One of these days I'm going to start a little
equine tourism business and you all will HAVE to come to see my beautiful
country. We were all so happy to be able to spend Xmas day in such a way and
we talked about how we wished we could share it with all our distant
friends. Maybe someday.

For New Year's Eve a bunch of families, Babsi and myself included, are
heading to the Red Sea where we will sit and look at the stars over Sharm el
Sheikh, while our daughters and their friends boogie it up at a big party at
one of the hotels. (We also get two New Year's days, the Western and the
Islamic! See even the holidays are generous here!)

We will raise a toast, whether literally or figuratively, to all our absent
friends and greet Orion's Belt and the Milky Way for you all. Someday we
will be your hosts in Egypt, Inshallah.

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani
Cairo, Egypt
maryanne@ratbusters.net
www.ratbusters.net