We were locked out of our blog during Christmas preparations and celebrations, so I thought I'd share a few of those things in this blog and the next.
On December 16 we hosted a Sunday afternoon Lessons and Carols Service, with about 90 people attending. Since our congregation usually numbers about 15 or 20, this is a big deal - a significant outreach to people who don't usually come to the church - but maybe they will in the future. We hope so.
Or maybe they've just heard about the food and drink afterward!
It's amazing to see this little group of folks offer such a beautiful service and such generous hospitality to the community.
Earlier that day we had had dinner with Steve, Rebecca, and Owen Garrett (we were free since we didn't have a morning service - just the afternoon carol service). The Garretts are one of the key families of the congregation, and Steve is the one who was my contact all through the planning to come here.
We took trolleybus no. 7 across the river and into their neighborhood, and then walked the last few snowy blocks. It's an area with many single-family homes, or houses that used to be single-family. It looks like a real neighborhood and not just a series of apartment blocks. We walked past several charming examples.
And this is the Garrett home:
The house is divided into five flats - two each on the first two floors and one on top. It has been a family home for generations, and descendants of the old family still live in the rest of the house. The Garretts are the only residents who aren't part of the family. They live in the flat on the ground floor on the right: living room, dining room, two bedrooms, office, kitchen, bath, large foyer. What a huge, gorgeous place. Coming from our tiny attic flat, we were just a bit jealous. (We also had Christmas Day dinner there, so you'll see a bit of the inside of the house in another post.)
That was December 16. On the 17th Liz reminded me that we needed a Christmas tree.
Fortunately, free and cheerful tree delivery is available:
And soon it was decorated - well, as soon as Liz unscrambled the lights that had been left from previous years.
It's a live tree, but needles are still falling off at an alarming rate. Oh well, we love it.
Of course, what is Christmas without a trip to the mall? We took the bus north across the river to Akropolis, the largest of the Vilnius shopping centers.
We had some pizza beside the ice rink.
We did not follow the signs to McD's.
We gave some serious consideration to upgrading our winter footgear (above).
And I guess all we bought was a printer cartridge and some dinner napkins. Well, it was easy to carry home - that's important.
A little bit more about our Christmas next time.
Did you ever doubt that beer could be a fitness drink? Although half liter cans aren't much of a challenge.
That's a look at some of our preparations for our first Lithuanian Christmas!
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