On the First Day of Christmas: We realized that we could cook our own Thanksgiving dinner without 'grownups!' We (the three of us) prepared the Thanksgiving dinner for some of our nearest and dearest here (with the exception of the Turkey, mashed 'taters, and a fruit pie). To our delight, cooking together was a lot of fun, and went smashingly! And the food was quite delicious if I do say so myself(; The dinner itself was lovely, and it really did feel like Thanksgiving in its own way.
On the Second day of Christmas: I realized that I've become my mother (and grandmother) after all. As we were setting up our Christmas trees, I realized how 'spoiled' I had been with ours back home. Our trees are very charming here, but they don't have the same aura as the one we had growing up. I remember mom taking sooo much time fluffing up the branches until it looked just right, and then helping grandma setting up trees fluffing them up just right, and then I get here and get frustrated because no matter how hard you try, the trees here weren't made to be fluffed up just right. It's crazy, but it really frustrated me that i couldn't get our three ft. tree to be nice and fluffy (although it looks pretty snazzy now that its all decorated - I'll try to get pictures up shortly after Christmas!). I also miss the decorations from home, and even though our tree never had a 'theme,' mom always had cutsie ornaments to add that tied it all together. And - of course - it's probably just the tradition I miss, the continuity of that ONE tree that has been there your entire life. Ahh well, in short, my mom has finally begun to rub off on me.
--On a side note, it was a shock when skyping home one night and being reminded that we had to get a new tree, with colored lights, so the whole lifetime tree thing is a wee bit irrelevent now.
On the Third day of Christmas: I realized that I have a pretty cool team here. Since I'm the 'young one' I often get treated like it. Which means that I get to be the designated advent calender opener! My team was nice enough to fill it with all sorts of goodies, showing how much they absolutely love me! (; For example, ive gotten a marshmallow, garlic clove, a bit of candle wax, poulpurry nut, some empty candy wrappers, and an assortment of other goodies!
On the Fourth Day of Christmas: I realized how I really miss snow. Sure we have Christmases back home without snow, but this year I really do miss it! On the morning we left for Northern Ireland (I'll get to that in a minute) it was heavily snowing, getting the three of us quite excited! Unfortunately it didn't stick. However, it is quite normal to see rain, slush, or hail(more like sleet though).
On the Fifth Day of Christmas: We went to Northern Ireland! Last Thursday we travelled to Corrymeela. If you've never heard of Corrymeela, you should definitely look it up! It is a Christian camp/retreat off of a town called Ballycastle (about 45-60 min. from Belfast). We spent the week with Britt's cousins Tiffany and Dustin and their two adorable little boys.
On the Sixth Day of Christmas: I realized how beautiful Ireland is! I always thought it redundant how people exclaimed how beautiful it is, but never really sunk in until I got to experience it! It's impossible to put into words, or capture with photos, just how breathtaking it is there (although we definitely tried to capture it!).
On the Seventh Day of Christmas: I spent a lovely week with my team in Ireland. I know I keep going on about it, but it truly was a refreshing week! We spent a lot of our time going on walks together, climbing cliffs, seeing castles, crossing bridges, and just relaxing together. Really worthwhile!
On the Eighth Day of Christmas: We sang in a Christmas concert! At Corrymeela we had the opportunity to sing some Christmas songs for the community. It was a lot of fun being able to join in the community with the volunteers for the weekend and see the event unfold. Again... Really worthwhile!
On the Ninth Day of Christmas: We decided we really enjoyed singing together. So much so that we are going Christmas caroling with a few ladies from the choir we are in, AND singing at the midnight (yes - midnight) Christmas Eve service tomorrow!
On the Tenth Day of Christmas: I realized how much I miss the good 'ole Christmas movies from back home. I miss watching movie after movie on ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas during Christmas vacation, as well as the Christmas movies we have back home. --Let me add that while writing this we are watching It's a Wonderful Live --classic. We have a small collection of holiday movies here, but its not quite the same. We also don't blast Christmas music throughout the house, which I miss as well.
On the Eleventh Day of Christmas: I forgot to tell you how nice the Irish are! Seriously everyone was super nice, whether you were on the street, in a shop, at the pub, or hiking through their property during a hailstorm, everyone was soooo nice! I wish people everywhere were that nice. And had such awesome accents(:
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas: I realized that I can do this. I can get through the holidays without my family. Not that I have to love being away from my family, but I'll survive! I think we have been so busy lately that it's been kinda hard to really miss them (although I do have my moments). I think that being here without my family is a whole lot easier than if I was at home without them. And we have so many people here who are becoming part of our family that it's hard to dwell on those we miss.
--I could never ever spend every Christmas without my family, but this one without them has been, in a way, beneficial. It has helped me appreciate my family more, as well as the traditions we have.
So, to those of you who stuck it out through all Twelve Days, Congratulations, you finished!
On a final note though, I would like to thank everyone who has been supporting me and my team and all of Radical Journey through this. I'm really learning a lot, even if I can't put into words what exactly that is. And I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas back home, and a Happy New Year. Love and Miss you all!
Kaihle
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| We thoroughly enjoyed interacting with the boys, and playing with their toys! |
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| Some bridge across a huge drop...no big deal |
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| Giant's Causeway! |
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| A castle. On the Edge of a Cliff. again..no biggie |
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| Me Looking over the Edge! |
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| Britt - about to fly away! |
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| Seriously. SO BEAUTIFUL. |
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| Protestant Mural in Belfast . one of many |
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| Yep. We climbed to the top of this cliff |
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| They're cute.. Especially when they gaze(: |
