Christmas Time in Drakensburg

After our visitors (the Gleaves) went home, we packed a little bag and went to the Drakensburg  area on Dec 24. Bruce and Melinda Kinghorn had told us how beautiful it was there and we thought it would be fun to get away for Christmas.
School is out for the year here in December and January and so a lot of the local people are on vacation and a lot of places were booked. It was kind of late when we started looking for a place to stay.  We looked at several places on the internet and finally found one.   So on Christmas Eve we drove to the 'Antbear Lodge' in the Drakensburg mountains.

A wooden Antbear. Antbear is another name for Aardvark

It was rainy and overcast some of the time but it was still beautiful

Our little cottage

The first night we were there, we were sitting in the little living room and a bat started flying around the room.  Walt turned on the outside light and opened the door while Susan went in the bedroom to hide.  Susan was laying on the bed and examining the ceiling (beautifully thatched) for more bats and saw another one! Walt threw a pillow at it and chased it out into the living room.  After several minutes, Walt checked the living room and they had both flown out the door. Susan still slept with one eye open the first night.  The next day some of the employees came to our cottage armed with brooms and bags to catch some bats but couldn't find any more.

The second seat of this "love seat" is on the opposite side

They suggested we use bottled water.  Ya think??

The lodge was a bed and breakfast and we enjoyed wonderful breakfasts and dinners with the other guests.  On Christmas day they had a special brunch buffet.

The dining room in the lodge

The stairway up to the loft

Each table had a different style wooden chandelier.  The candles are in tea cups and were lit for every meal.

The glass was actually cut into and around this wooden tree

Can you see the branches on the tree?

The owners father carved many of the wooden designs.  Everywhere we looked there were unique things made out of wood.

Cool toy box

This lamp swivels to different positions

The entire right and left sides of this door are just hinges.

The green glass is made of melted, flattened bottles.

When Natalie and her family came in December, they brought with them a LOT of presents from all of our families.  We opened all those presents together on Sunday, Dec 20 while the Gleaves were still here.

The view from the porch of our cottage in Drakensburg

We took with us to Drakensburg, two stockings full of presents MarJean had sent with Mike and Tami when they came in October.

Our little Christmas tree back in Joburg.  Gifts are from some dear friends.

On Christmas day we sat on the porch of our little cottage and opened our presents from Frank and MarJean.

Wearing new socks and enjoying Raisinets

Holding a bottle of sand all the way from Cancun.  Tears were shed!!

This was the first time we have ever been away from our family on Christmas and we missed everyone so very much.  We missed the talent show on Christmas Eve, family remembrances and reading the Christmas story in St. Luke.  On Christmas day we missed being with everyone, watching as gifts were opened, and of course, all of the good food (but not shoveling the snow).  The homes here in South Africa are not decorated with lights and we saw very few lights on the streets.  About the only Christmas decorations we saw were in the malls.   Sometimes we had to remind ourselves that it really was Christmas time.

The weather at Christmas time is great here in South Africa, but we'd be more than willing to exchange the weather just to be with our dear family.