Christmas morning I got up and went to church. It was a really nice time of Scripture readings and Christmas hymns. Afterwards, I went home to set up Skype with Mom, Dad and Jesse. A few people here gave me some gifts so that I would have something to open Christmas morning away from home. So I sat in my little attic room and talked with my family back home. It was so nice, but very sad at the same time. I wish I had known last Christmas that it would be the last Christmas the four of us would spend together. This year I am in Belfast, and next year Jesse will be married and starting his own traditions. Sometimes, I find it hard to accept the changes brought on by time. However, I am so thankful for modern technology! I still got to spend Christmas with my family. After Skyping with them, I had Christmas dinner with Jaci and her family. It was kind of funny, for different reasons we had the dinner split between Jaci’s house and her sister’s house a street over. So we ended up walking between the two houses carrying trays and casserole dishes laden with Christmas dinner. We had the appetizer at Heather’s house, the main course at our house, and dessert at Heather’s. After this, we settled in and played “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” board game. It turned out to be a fantastic Christmas, and a wonderful new life experience.
Boxing Day Jaci had some friends over, and we all played Scrabble and other board games after a meal of homemade chicken curry. I am usually a big fan of Scrabble, but we played a new version that gave opponents the opportunity to take credit for the words you create and other tricks. I didn’t like that! I like to take credit for the really great words I come up with! I think that’s half the fun of Scrabble.On the 27th, Mom finally arrived. I was so excited! We had an amazing time. The evening she got there, she was incredibly jetlagged but she didn’t realize it. So we Skyped home to Dad, letting him know she’d arrived safely. Then I opened a ton of amazing presents from home – which made my day! Then, I left Mom to go to sleep. The next day, she didn’t remember any of it. I told her we talked to Dad and she didn’t believe me! She’s never going to live this one down.
Over the week we visited Belfast City Centre, Edinburgh, and Dublin. We also went with Jaci and Sally on two different occasions to see more of the country side. It was a very busy week, but we had an amazing time. We had so many adventures! It was wonderful to spend time with Mom. New Year’s Eve was actually the one day we stayed at home. We brought in the New Year watching coverage of Edinburgh and London festivities.
On Tuesday, 3rd January Mom was going home. However, due to weather complications, her flight was delayed from Belfast causing her to miss her connecting flights. So, we were up bright and early that morning, but Mom didn’t even get to Toronto until about midnight. At that point she had to spend the night in a hotel before catching an early flight home the next day. I’d say it was quite an exciting conclusion to her visit here.After this, I returned to work. I’ve completed two more courses since Christmas, and have four to go. I am currently busy working on the Daily Prayer Guide and the Spring Week of Prayer booklet in the office. I appreciate everyone’s prayers as my time here draws to a close.
