Day 11 - Christmas

Christmas here started last night at Sundown. I went with AJ to midnight mass at St. Stephen's. It was nice, though I got a little overly nervous about taking Eucharist. We didn't get back until Oh-God-It's-Late-O-Clock, after driving that dear lady Kath and her great-granddaughter home.

This morning I awoke around 7am to the sound of someone knocking on my door. Actually, it wasn't the knocking that woke me; the sound pierced my subconscious and I said something, but what actually woke me was the feel of the blanket strangling me - apparently I wrapped it around my head when Erica knocked. *shrug* I was obviously delirious.

Lovely home-made-from-scratch orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast! Wow, better than Pillsbury's!



I went to an early morning service with Erica and Tony, and was once again warmly received. I helped Erica with the powerpoint for the service, so they were particularly grateful to have me. As my dad would point out later, it's amazing how God puts things together in this world, and places people just where they're needed. I learned to do this stuff at a Methodist camp in Oklahoma years and years ago... and now I'm employing it at a Methodist church in South Africa. Amazing!

We got back around 10:30 and began to slowly draw ourselves out of a stupor and make Christmas lunch, which consisted of all cold foods.


Oh, and Aj looked quite festive!


Doesn't it look delicious? Cold cuts of chicken and honeyed ham, plus an incredible salad, lentils, breaded stuffing, slice of avocado pears, coleslaw... and I'm forgetting what else. And a truly amazing dry white wine to wash it all down with. (I don't usually like dry wine, but that because it's usually dry CRAP, if you know what I mean...)

Compared to the way my family has its tree, this was really tiny. Yet it was absolutely perfect. The little fiber-optic tree was lovingly decorated and admired every single night, and the gifts under it were chosen with special care and attention.



Andrew-John's older brother Steven came, with his Afrikaaner [girlfriend?]. I liked Steven a lot; he's witty and fun, much like the rest of the family, with a special whip-crack to his jokes. I didn't get to know the young lady very well, but we're invited to her [some kind of tertiary relative's] home on Sunday for a Braai!


Awww.

Admiring my Christmas gift...
;)

Erika showing off a gift made to the family. (She looked really stunning in her holiday getup, I must say!)

Oh, and a family friend of their Emille! (Not sure on the spelling there.) This guy is a fascinating character. He's a clinical psychologist with some really moving stories to tell. I liked him right away, because we set the tone for the afternoon by arguing together against the others over the pronunciation of "tinnitus". (Is it tin-EYE-tuss or tinn-i-tus, long or short "I"?)

I'm kind of getting tired of being pinned for all things "American" (the implication then being that America is inferior) but I guess I kind of signed up for that when I became the snap-happy tourist. I do the same to my own guests; live and learn, and take it on the chin. I'm here for your enjoyment too, guys! :)


There were even a few presents for me as well! I got a bit teary about that. They really didn't have to, and I wasn't expecting anything. More on my gifts another time though.

After opening presents it was time for dessert!

Mmmm! If you don't know, the one in the middle is Christmas pudding. The one on the right in the big bowl is a trifle! They are both DELICIOUS!!



Emille says he's fine, he's got all the dessert he wants!

LOL, so naturally we all overdid it and had to spend the next several hours digesting in the sitting room in the sunlight.

Unfortunately I had a little accident and spilled some lemonade behind the couch. I felt awful about that, but everyone was fairly good natured. Otherwise, the rest of the afternoon passed beautifully.

I need to Skype-call my family soon though.