As you know, we've been home from Egypt now a little over a week. It's great to be back in our own country, our own beds, eating our own food, etc. In many ways, our trip seems like it was a long time ago.
So many things--big and small--about our trip come to mind throughout my day. One thing I've thought about is how they celebrate Christmas in Egypt. Yes, a Muslim country celebrates Christmas! :-0
We were really surprised when we arrived at our 5-Star hotel in Cairo--the Mena House--and it was decorated to the hilt for Christmas! They went all out. They must have had over a thousand beautiful and live poinsettias all over the place. They had a larger-than-life, automated Santa Claus right next to the front door. He would shake your hand, say "Ho, ho, ho!" and play Christmas carols! The hotel is quite large and every "common area"--like the various lobbies and in front of the elevators, etc.--had live, decorated Christmas trees! It was amazing. All the hand rails and crown moldings were wrapped in garland! I wish I had taken photos!
We thought that all of this decorating must be directed towards the Christian tourists, but then we discovered that almost all Egyptians celebrate Christmas. Most don't celebrate it in a religious sense (although there are Coptic Christians still in Egypt), but they celebrate the secular holiday of Christmas--Santa Claus, reindeer, elves, gift giving, etc. Throughout our three week journey we encountered Christmas decorations everywhere. It was one of those completely unexpected, yet delightful parts of traveling! :-) It's something that I'll always remember as a very pleasant and interesting surprise.
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