Merry Christmas, everyone!
We started with an early church service (08h00) at which Catherine Ann, our friends Bob and Lianna's baby, was baptized (along with two others). The pastor, David, took a moment at the beginning of the service to say goodbye to us, which was a very nice gesture. Later, Mark and Catherine lit the advent candles (by themselves). Then, after the service, we said some (sad) goodbyes to good friends. We stayed so late that we were kicked out of the sanctuary.
As we were walking to our car, Catherine asked when her little friend Julia (Bob and Lianna's 4-year-old daughter) could come over to play. That was a hard question for me to hear, and even harder to answer. It won't happen again, and there is a little hole in Catherine's young heart.
After church, we went home and assembled a pasta salad, then departed for Glencairn at 11h15. We had a simple but nice Christmas lunch with our friends Ed and Vivian.
By 15h00, we pointed toward Boulders Beach, where we enjoyed the warm water and the penguins.
As I was putting Mark to bed tonight, I said "It was a good day, wasn't it: an African Christmas." He replied "And a special day."
See several photos below.
--Matt
