Happy Boxing Day and a Merry Christmas, too!

Today is Boxing Day--an official public holiday in Trinidad & Tobago, just as it is in most countries that make up the British Commonwealth. Unlike in the U.S. where the stores are busy today with shoppers rushing to cash in on after-Christmas sales and to return unwanted gifts, the stores here are closed. On Christmas Day, most people spend the day with families. Many attend early morning church services as well. Today, however, is a day to go out and celebrate. Beaches and parks will be packed with revelers who have the day off. Others will take the opportunity to take care of projects that need to be done around the house. It is common here for people to use December to do what many in the States think of as "spring cleaning." A lot of families try to get their homes thoroughly cleaned, replace old curtains and repaint rooms before Christmas. For those who weren't able to get everything done then, today is a good chance to still take care of things before the New Year.
~Richard

Let's work backwards on this list and I'll write a bit about some of our Christmas day. Originally we were invited to spend Christmas with some other missionaries, which would have included a traditional Trini family day and big meal at home. However, due to health problems, that plan was changed. Instead, we were invited to join another family on the beach. This family said it was their first Christmas to go to the beach. Most people do not go on Christmas. But they had relatives visiting and since it was the only day they were all able to work it out with their schedules, they decided to go then to the beach. And, we got to be included!
It was a bright, warm, sunny day here (sorry to all our dear friends in the cold). We enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch of curried duck (a traditional Christmas favorite here), roti, fish cakes and egg balls. Our contribution to the meal was as many of our Christmas sweets as we were able to make here. We had to explain that peppernuts were not like the peppernuts they sell in the stores here that are literally nuts covered in pepper. They thought it was funny that ours were called that when they had no pepper and no nuts in them.
After lunch we enjoyed visiting, playing in the ocean, hop scotch drawn in the wet sand and a little cricket and American football by the 5 youth present. Cricket, curried duck and a palm tree lined beach on Christmas. What a lovely day.
Barb

Even before that, we went to a candlelight service early on Christmas morning. It started at 5:30, and since the one we attended was held in the church right downstairs from our apartment, that was very convenient. So we got up at 5:00 and went downstairs very soon. We didn't even need to eat breakfast because that was provided as a part of the service. It was still dark at the beginning of the service at 5:30 in the morning, but it got light pretty fast. There were candles set all around the church, but the overhead lights were on too. The service was basically like a regular church service, and for the rest of the day I kept thinking it was Sunday! My family did a special again, and we did the same song that we had already done at 3 Christmas Programs, so we have had plenty chances to get good at it, I guess! By the end of the service, the candle at the very front was only a pile of wax and it was dripping all over the floor. So I was very surprised when I walked to the back of the church at the end and the candles at the back were still really tall! After the service was over, they served 'breakfast' for us, but I thought it was more like any regular meal. They had bread, rolls, ham, turkey, and chicken along with condiments for a sandwich, plus some people brought breakfast things and some people even brought dessert. I think it's impossible to go hungry in Trinidad!
~Roxy

Well, we still are out of water. We've been out since last Friday, so this is day 8. Towards the beginning, someone called the firetrucks and they came and filled the water tanks for us. So, that lasted us a few days. We asked the person who did that for us if we could call the firetrucks and they'd fill our tanks again, but we learned that if we place a request it would at least be a few days before they come and with the Christmas holidays, it complicates everything. Luckily, we were able to talk to our neighbor who filled our tanks with his hose. It makes it harder, though, to have to share water with the church. Like, after the church service yesterday, we found that there was a toilet in the women's bathroom that was still running. We could have never noticed and it would have wasted a lot of our water. We're lucky enough to have found some sources of water, but we still have to conserve a lot. We're hoping that WASA (I forget what it stands for, but that's the water company in Trinidad) will come fix our leak on Monday. That's our next hope since today is Boxing Day and tomorrow is Sunday!
~Olivia