Christmas Day in Northern Florida...what an experience! Almost as warm as the one last year in Gulfport.

We went to an Episcopal Christmas Eve service last night and I was struck by the similarities but even more by the differences between them and the Anglican service of worship. The Hymn Book doesn't have the titles of the hymns just the words and they are all numbered; the prayers of the people are much more related to the current world situation as seen by the USA than ours are - lots of references to war and terrorism; and throughout the evening I never did get used to the southern accents on the priests. All in all it was a great service, making us feel at home with good music and friendly folk. I got feeling really Christmassy for sure.

Then we came home to Nelleke to entertain Eric and Cori or to have them join us for lobster sandwiches and eggnog before we hit the hay to await Santa Clause. For us though, he had visited Nelleke while we were at church so we opened our presents before we went to bed. Kayt and Chris bought us some electronic books and we had each bought each other some small things to go under our small Christmas tree. We used real Barb knit stockings for the Christmas stockings and we emptied those too. In all really good evening.

This morning while I prepared our breakfast we connected with Kayt and Kevin and his kids to watch the turmoil at their Christmas. Fun and I rather wish that we could be there or they could be here.

Today I'll make for a short post. We'll be preparing Christmas dinner and hosting our friends. The weather isn't so wonderful, but I imagine that the day will be pretty laid back.

Merry Christmas to all. Ho Ho Ho! Enjoy the day.