A Kiwi Christmas

We’ve had a totally different, totally wonderful Christmas in New Zealand. Since we’re in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas is in the middle of the summer when the days are the longest and school is out for summer break. We put up a small string of lights but its only dark for about an hour before we go to bed so they’re not on for long.

 The Ribets from our church group invited us over for Christmas Eve, where we had a dinner of things that might have been eaten in Christ’s time and sang Christmas hymns with the help of Nick’s ukulele.

On Christmas Day, Utah’s Christmas Eve, we talked to 6 of our kids and my sweet parents and sister. Then our friend Sue Collins invited us to have a picnic with their family on the beach in Tairua. We garden at her farm every Friday and were thrilled to get to meet her extended family. Her husband Derek resides in a care center in Tairua but got to be at the beach with us for the day. 

They also invited us to go to their Anglican Christmas service with them but we had family phone calls and couldn’t make it. After the beach, we made a stop back at the Ribets to see what Santa left the kids and have a few more treats.

We’ve had a joyous, delightful day to celebrate the anniversary of our Savior’s birth