Christmas Icon at my new church.
*
It was great to be with Mr. Husband
at church for Christmas.
*
I was thinking a lot of my church in Ottawa
as this is my first Christmas in seven of my 8.5 years
as an Orthodox Christian
that I am not there with them.
*
It was still a beautiful Christmas
but I was also aware of feeling off-cue.
No Holy Supper.
No Compline at my Ottawa church.
Different traditions, songs and melodies.
*
I was not sad per say
as I had determined to look beyond myself
and there are so many things to be thankful for
that sadness did not seem an option.
*
Since our main church is over 1 hour drive away
we stayed a hotel to be able to be at
more services.
So that was different too.
And as feared, Mr. Husband got
a really bad cold
and I came down with the same cold
last night.
*
But I am so thankful
for the many things I have been given.
A loving husband.
I still have a good church family
just a different one.
I care about my new friends and their lives
and struggles and I
can't tell you how much that helps.
*
Mr. Husband and I had a nice Christmas.
Even though Mr. Husband was sick
and now I am feeling a bit lousy
we still have so much
wonderfulness.
*
Including a Christmas night meal together
a very nice restaurant
that if you go for the 5 pm sitting
the 3 course meal is half-price.
This gladdens our Dutch hearts :)
*
We had yummy salad.
I forgot to take a photo of the main course!
It was yummy green beans
mashed potatoes
and chicken
with Jus.
Really nice.
And no dishes to wash!
I finally had yummy cream
for black tea
to go with this wonderful
raisin strudel :)
we enjoyed some treats
as we opened our gifts.
I like the candied nuts!
My cold was in full swing sadly
by this time
but even this can be seen as a blessing
as I go late next week God-willing
to Ottawa
and hopefully
my cold will be gone by then
so better to get it now than right before the flight...
Mr. Husband's favourite gift
was a first edition of
Tolkien's
letters to father Christmas
that I learned about through Anna's blog
last month!
We were also given some lovely
food and other gifts
from friends
that were a joy to open!
How nice to have a new beginning! I understand your feeling totally, I remember when we first came here and we attended our first Christmas - my husbands first Christmas service done in another language and his first Christmas service done alone. When, he was a missionary priest he was helping in a big parish with 4 priests. For me was strange because home we sing a lot of Carols, here they are almost non-existent. No choir. But we surprised them- I baked a traditional cake from home, similar to the Ukrainian Kulich and we sang them together with friends a few Romanian Traditional Carols, so it was nice but different but also fulfilling to be together and do something as a family.
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ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to what you've written here. I'm so glad that you have your wonderful husband with you to walk through this memories. It is always difficult to start fresh in a new place.
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