It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

In the last nine years, the indicator that Christmas is near has become the Harmatan phenomenon. (For those of you that aren't familiar with this, it is when the Northern winds blow across the Sahara and dump large amounts of its dust on us.) Usually, we feel its effects starting in December. Thursday morning, however, we awoke to a hazy, grey sky and felt the moisture being sucked from our pores. By noon the humidity had fallen to 30%. By dinner, the table had the familiar layer of dust needing to be wiped before we could set it. The Togolese are remarking that it is because we had such a heavy rainy season and they hope it will lift after a few weeks. I hardly know what to do with myself. It's when the dust has come that I know to go get the Christmas tree out, but the calendar says it's too early. I wonder if this year it will rain on Christmas Day and totally turn my world upside down.