NAMRU-3 Christmas party

Today we celebrated Christmas at work, which was one of the most hilarious and odd, yet touching, Christmas celebrations I've ever had. We started with a small lunch celebration with only our division (there are four divisions within NAMRU-3). The office had been decorated and food provided by a group of our Egyptian colleagues, most of whom are Muslim, which made the efforts that much more touching. They all wanted it to feel like it was Christmas for those of us Americans who were unable to go home for the holidays.We had plenty of dessert, with American candy provided by the captain, chocolates provided by one of my coworkers and my own Christmas baking.
Afterwards, we had a command-wide celebration outside. Everyone gathered around while a small group sang Christmas carols and Santa distributed candy. Some people even brought their families to join the celebration.
We, of course, didn't have any snow, but we did have a sandstorm, called a 'hamseen' in the middle of the celebration.

And, if you've never heard 'Feliz Navidad' performed in Arabic (which I don't think anyone has), here's a video sample...