After waking up at 9am, we headed to one of three sister churches in the area for mass. Church was much different then back home. The total congregation is about 120 people, and only about 50 attended the service we were at. The pastor new almost everyone’s name including the children, and helped provide a very social and friendly atmosphere. In place of taking a moment during mass to say “peace be with you,” we spent about three minutes in the beginning walking around and saying Merry (Happy) Christmas to each other. I think the friendly, more relaxed nature of the mass provides a more enjoyable, loving environment that also involves the children. I think it is a much better approach to keeping children in the church unlike our boring services. Part of the difference can be attributed to the small congregation sizes, but also the fact that it was a Methodist church.
Back at Sheena’s we opened some presents before preparing different. It was very nice of Sheena’s family to give Chris and I some gifts. Her parents, grandmother, brother and sister-in-law, along with here all gave us something simple. It was nice to be included, and make us feel like part of the family for the occasion. We took a break from presents to eat a late turkey lunch and then went back to presents for the rest of the afternoon. The evening was more eating and sitting around talking. I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my life, it was practically 8 hours of just eating food and deserts while drinking tee. My pants(trousers) are screaming for exercise now.