A little Christmas in Macedonia and Kosovo -  We went to Mass at the Catholic Cathedral in Skopje, Macedonia last week and were most impressed by the nativity scene they had on display near the altar.  As you probably know, Annette has a large collection of nativity scenes that she loves to display at Christmas, so we consider ourselves to be creche experts.  The nativity scene in Skopje was impressive even by our demanding standards.  It took up most of one side of the altar area, probably 15' wide by 8' deep.  There were mountains, villages, numerous flocks of sheep and cattle, angels, stars, wise men - the whole works plus some!  We were very impressed!  The photos below don't do it justice, but thought you might enjoy them.

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On Christmas Day we went to mass at the Cathedral here in Prizren and saw their nativity scene located outside of the church.  It is nice but not as impressive as the one in Skopje.  Mass in the winter here is a challenge, with no heat in the church it gets really cold inside.  On Christmas Day there were 40 to 50 KFOR troops in camo uniforms in the church for mass.  There is a large KFOR (Kosovo Force - the NATO troops brought in during the Kosovo war in 1999) base near the town of Ferizaj, so we suspect that some Christian troops were brought to Prizren for Christmas mass.  Most of the troops are German, but we occasionally  see American soldiers too.  Anyway, posted below are two photos of the creche in Prizren.  Hope you had a great Christmas too.