This year Christmas Day was a little different to Christmases bygone. There was no traditional opening of stockings first thing in the morning, despite all four overflowing because someone had yet again overestimated what was required to fill a stocking (not me - I tend to go the opposite). With only two grown sons at home, stockings have probably lost some of their appeal.
After breakfast - which was just help-yourself and certainly nothing traditional or at least the ham and fruit kebabs DH has been known to cook on the barbecue previous years - it was off to church for a special service. This is something new as our denomination traditionally (a strange word to use for a denomination than eschews most traditions) does not hold a Christmas Day service, unless of course, Christmas falls on a Sunday. But our pastors, originally from Kenya, had no qualms about breaking with tradition and as a result, we enjoyed a short service where we celebrated communion and remembered our Saviour's birth.
Then it was home to pack up the food, including the turkey that was now cooked to perfection, and head out to Son#1's for Christmas dinner where the menu included such traditional goodies as turkey and stuffing and pavlova and Christmas Pudding and a few non-traditional such as roast pork, corn on the cob, kumara salad, and ambrosia. This is not something DH and I have had to do often in the past twenty-two years as family traditionally come to our home. Packing up food and presents was a little stressful (for me) and I inevitably left some presents behind.
But we got there (and didn't have to send out Search and Rescue - but that's another story) and then we were able to really enjoy the tradition of family gathering together to share food and fun and laughter. What could be better than that!
After breakfast - which was just help-yourself and certainly nothing traditional or at least the ham and fruit kebabs DH has been known to cook on the barbecue previous years - it was off to church for a special service. This is something new as our denomination traditionally (a strange word to use for a denomination than eschews most traditions) does not hold a Christmas Day service, unless of course, Christmas falls on a Sunday. But our pastors, originally from Kenya, had no qualms about breaking with tradition and as a result, we enjoyed a short service where we celebrated communion and remembered our Saviour's birth.
Then it was home to pack up the food, including the turkey that was now cooked to perfection, and head out to Son#1's for Christmas dinner where the menu included such traditional goodies as turkey and stuffing and pavlova and Christmas Pudding and a few non-traditional such as roast pork, corn on the cob, kumara salad, and ambrosia. This is not something DH and I have had to do often in the past twenty-two years as family traditionally come to our home. Packing up food and presents was a little stressful (for me) and I inevitably left some presents behind.
But we got there (and didn't have to send out Search and Rescue - but that's another story) and then we were able to really enjoy the tradition of family gathering together to share food and fun and laughter. What could be better than that!
(Look how brown everything is. Apparently we're officially in drought - already. Certainly not traditional for this time of year. We've had some rain since Christmas Day but more would be wonderful!)
And while the real grown-ups sleep off their Christmas dinner, what could be more traditional than a quick swim for the younger/youngish members?
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