I realize that it's now February so it seems a little silly to talk about Christmas... but since I didn't describe it before, here's a brief description.
One of the students on our DTS comes from a big family (with lots of wee ones and teenagers) in a nearby town. She and her family graciously invited our WHOLE SCHOOL to their home for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. So, all 17 students and 3 of the staff went to their home to experience a real family Christmas. :)
Our friends' home is a historic, thatched-roof "National Trust" house. We had a lovely supper of curry-beef with rice, and then played games and watched a movie and enjoyed each other's company. Then we had a giant sleep-over. (You should have seen the girls' room! It was about 14 girls in sleeping bags all in a row in a big room. Lovely.)
On Christmas morning, we had a "proper fry" for breakfast. If you'd like to know what that is, check Wikipedia for "Ulster Fry." It included eggs, beans, black and white pudding (sausage), bacon, tomatoes... and I can't remember what else... Then we watched the kiddos open their presents, and we opened our stockings!!! (And presents that we all got to unwrap too - Play Doh!) We all hung socks from the mantle on Christmas Eve and they were stuffed with candies, glow sticks, party noise makers, and the like while we slept.
We came back to the base around 1:00 on Christmas afternoon, just in time to catch the end of the yearly plunge into the Lough. (It's a Rostrevor tradition for townspeople to jump into the water on Christmas Day.) Some of our own from the base participated. :) I think we arrived just as they were jumping in, but we were in time to greet the cold and wet friends.
In the afternoon I joined a few other girls to open gifts that families had sent us and to read the Christmas story from the Bible.
Later in the evening, I prayed and worshipped the Lord with some friends.
All-in-all, a lovely day.
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