As I sit here writing my Christmas blog to everyone, I am listening to Christmas carols being played in the café area.
The ship has been attacked by Christmas elves, who have out done themselves in making sure we know it’s the Christmas season- even when it 90 degrees outside with HIGH humidity.
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| Our Advent wreath |
The Christmas season starts at Advent, which we harold in with the lighting of our Advent wreath (with real fire- the ship is very cautious when it comes to open flames on board) The Town Square- which is the centrally located social area of the ship, was decorated very nicely & soon other areas of the ship started to look a little more festive.
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| Santa Lucia- a Scandinavian tradition |
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| The gangway gets a festive makeover |
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| Bekah helps decorate |
Christmas is a very unique time onboard a ship that has over 30-some different cultures.
Even with the number of crew onboard at a bare minimum (most people went home at the end of the outreach in
Sierra Leone, or went on Christmas holiday), the holiday spirit is quite high.
So far we’ve had Christmas stories & plays, Christmas crafts & cookie baking, a Christmas fair & lots of caroling.
We’ve learned about the Star of Bethlehem (a great documentary- I highly recommend it) & the Magi.
But most of all, it’s a time for us to relax & remember the good gift God gave us.
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| Merry Christmas from the OR |
One of the favorite activities was the door decorating contest, where you could decorate either your personal cabin door or your department door.
The OR got together & made a very creative nativity scene out of medical supplies, the angels were made out of gauze & foley straps, the sheep out of cotton balls, the star- made out of an OR record sheet- lit up with a headlight & the manger was an eye shield.
It was titled: “Gl-OR-y to God in the highest”.
It received the award for “best use of departmental supplies”.
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| The hallway is lined with shoes |
I spent Christmas Eve day roaming a craft market here in
Ghana with friends.
We had lunch at a real KFC (at this point, it’s the little things that make us happy).
We got back to the ship in time to get cleaned up for a very nice Christmas Eve dinner of ham, turkey, potatoes & so many good things for dessert.
After dinner, we had a Christmas Eve service & then it was time to put our shoes outside our door for the little elves to fill (it’s a Mercy Ships tradition).
Between midnight & 2 am, the halls were full of these little elves, as they left goodies outside people’s cabins.
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| My Christmas shoe outside my cabin |
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| Gingerbread Ship |
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| Christmas morning brunch |
In the morning, the Christmas festivities continued, with a large brunch.
All you could eat buffet.
Some of us didn’t even get out of our pajamas the entire day.
It was a good day to be lazy, with more movies & activities throughout the day.
It was harder than I thought it would be, being away from family on the holidays.
And even though I got to spend it with good friends, it was my first Christmas away from family.
I miss you all very much & hope you all have a wonderful, merry Christmas.
May God bless you all this coming year!
Blessings
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