Christmas was lovely—but very different. It was unusual celebrating in a place that didn’t really celebrate. Tim’s words summed it up well. “I knew Christmas would be different here—I just didn’t realize it would be pretty much non-existent.”
It wasn’t entirely non-existent; there were "Dollar Store" style decorations (including one 6' Santa!) in most of the shops,
as well as a small (nighttime!) Christmas parade put on by one of the local stores 
but there were precious few of the familiar sounds, sights, and smells of the season outside of our home. We didn’t even sing Christmas carols at church! Many of the locals left or spent Christmas with their own families. We felt a little alone in our joy-filled celebration. In fact, we had a traditional Christmas dinner, ham and all, with just ourselves on Christmas Eve. I stop here to say that I hope I’m not painting too sad of a picture because we had a wonderful time as a family. The kids were as excited as could possibly be, waiting to see if Santa could actually find them in PNG. Amazingly, he did.
Thankfully, he was in and out before my 4:30 a.m. early birds awoke, I’m sure of it, to the sound of his sleigh bells as he left our house. Oh, I know my parents wished this on me.After a leisurely morning of opening some gifts and enjoying homemade cinnamon rolls, we got ourselves ready for the First Annual Christmas Island Hop
(who knows what year 2 holds, but it sounds good.)
Our Filipino friend Aries, his sister Christian, and his Dutch fiancee joined us along with two Filipino nuns as we traveled by boat to Samarai Island to enjoy some swimming, snorkeling, fishing and relaxation.
Austin and Inia enjoyed some fishing from the dinghy
The kids had a blast playing with the Sisters
Cooling off with Kulau (fresh coconut milk)!
My favorite picture from the trip was of Weston asleep in my laplap (skirt) which was tied to a tree. Ahhh, bliss!
Shhhhh!
Zzzzzzzzz!It felt different celebrating Christmas in this way, but we couldn't complain with the incredible beauty surrounding us.
Logea Island
Dekadeka Island
Aries, Anita, Christian, and Us
It helps to know, too, that we can rejoice in the Gift of Jesus anywhere, anytime, and with anyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
5 comments:
amazing photos!!! -- the lighting on the last one is really great -- you might ought to make that into a prayer card, eh. --- you all look so great in it -- beautiful family!!
phil mc
ps -- are the sisters from a local parish/convent or were they on vacation?
also, --
shanon was wondering if our gifts got to yall in time for C-mas.
phil
Beautiful pictures and a beautiful story....the selfish part of me still wishes that we were together for Christmas! LOL! Glad to hear that you all enjoyed your day. We love and miss you!!!
Aunt Brenda
I'm glad that you're getting to know some Filipino friends there :o) The pig story is funny. My mom used to raise pigs and I used to cry so much when they slaughter one of our pigs.. but then again i get over it immediately when the lechon (roast pig) is done 'coz it's just yummy! LOL...
I sure missed you guys this Christmas! That is all I have to say about that!!!!!
Post a Comment