Saipandemonium: Christmas in Saipan

Christmas in Saipan--what a wonderful experience.

Merry Christmas from the Tropics!

We started out with Immanuel United Methodist Church's Christmas Eve Service Nine Lessons and Carols, which featured songs in Tagalog (Filipino language) and Silent Night sung by the traditional candlelight and accompanied by the nontraditional ukulele. Growing up, Mom sang Christmas carols to get Russell, Coleman, and me to go to sleep, and one of her favorites was Silent Night. So, when we started singing that song on our first Christmas away from our extended families, it finally hit me and the waterfall started! Joey did a fantastic job comforting me, and by the end of the evening, we were both looking forward to Christmas Day.

We woke up bright and early to a gorgeous view, ate pumpkin bread that Joey's Mom had bought for us during her visit with instructions to eat it on Christmas morning, and headed to Colleen and Brian's. They are out of town on a trip to Thailand (to volunteer at an orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS and play with elephants in an elephant refuge), so we jacked their internet. We video chatted with everyone at the Smith home for the Christmas Even shindig, including Joey's parents. It was wonderful to SEE family and dear friends on Christmas Day from 8000 miles away. The miracle of modern technology!

Clad in our bathing suits, we headed to Daniel Stafford's house on the beach. We feasted on a roasted pig, my Grandmother's macaroni and cheese, and other scrumptious goodies brought by our friends (including black-eyed peas and okra from Trey's girlfriend, Maggie, who was visiting from Eatonton, GA). There were five people from small towns in Georgia celebrating Christmas together in the small town of Saipan! What are the odds?!

We munched, drank, talked, played frisbee, and swam in the ocean well into the evening. It was definitely a different type of Christmas, but it was a wonderful Christmas nonetheless!