Christmas Eve

Margaret, Henry's mom, put me at ease by greeting me with a hug at the train station and the family has been great. His brother James and sister-in-law Becky arrived yesterday evening as well and the rest of the family will come over on Christmas Day. The Browns live in a beautiful, big farmhouse on the edge of town with hills rising steeply behind the house.

I forgot to shoot a photo of the front of the house, but this is a shot from the hill behind the house. The farmhouse is in the foreground, centre/left and the big buildings to the right are their barns.

The view from an upstairs, front window.

The view out a back window.

Late this morning a few of us loaded into the jeep and headed to a field about 10 minutes away where some of the sheep are kept. It's a beautiful area with rolling hills and ocean views so James, Becky and I took a walk to reach the field. I learned a bit about the sheep they keep, found out the meaning of calling someone a “black sheep” so I won't be doing that anymore, and spent Christmas Eve in a way I've never spent it before... as James put it, “'So, what did you do on Christmas Eve?' 'Oh, we went out and de-wormed sheep.'” Henry actually did the dirty work while we chatted and watched. He also loaded some sheep into the trailer and brought them back to the farm to be turned into lamb chops next week... poor, tasty little things. But he didn't choose the black/brown one who looked like a teddy bear so I was happy. I didn't realize what we would be doing so I didn't take along my camera... could have snagged some fun photos, but I'll get them eventually.

I love listening to conversations around the table during meals - it's like living in a movie. The phrases they use are fabulous. The only way I can think to describe it is that they all use words like “lovely” and "extraordinary" in everyday conversation.

I also discovered today that fans of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas need to unite and spread the joy of "fahoo fores, dahoo dores" to the UK. These poor folks are missing out on singing along and watching the Grinch's heart grow three sizes in one day.

Although it's different to not celebrate Christmas in the usual ways, there are little reminders of Christmas back home and the differences are a good kind of different.