Monday 24 December 2007

Merry Christmas!






Merry Christmas family and friends!


This year I am far away from you, but would just like to give you a quick picture of what Christmas is like around these parts... quite different than the part of the world I'm used to. The last couple of days some of us traveled to the North side of the island, where life and culture is much different. We had a wonderful and adventurous time navigating roads with a map that had every town with a different name than the road signs said, and as you will see, saw the incredible beauty of the Northern Meditteranean. At a roadside market I bought some fruit for our Christmas dinner, and the lady working there said "oh, is it Christmas?" The part of the world I woke up in today had none of the signs my Canada has to announce Christmas - no media, no lights, no crazy shopping centers; no carolers, no Christmas eve church services, no nativities. So I am thankful for my heritage today - my country that at one time recognized God in its constitution, and to this day pays a nation to celebrate His entrance into this world "and His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us." I am glad that I have never not known that it is Christmas... so to all of you as you celebrate (whether on "the" day or not - or on January 7th for you Orthodox people (not just Ukranians, I've discovered:))) - Merry Christmas! And here's some shots of the last couple of days.

2 comments:

Betty said...

Merry Christmas Sandra!

Love Aunt Betty And Uncle Chuck.

A New Life Begins... said...

Hey San,
Merry Christmas to you! So sad I missed your call! It sure was neat to hear your voice though, across the miles on my answering machine! I was at the hospital when you called, holding my 3 hour old baby girl! Sure miss you and am so proud of you. Have an amazing, once in a life-time Christmas, reveling in where God has you for this moment...

Lots of love and pats and stuff.
Danielle