MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sending lots of love and good wishes your way! I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas! This Christmas has been completely different from what I was expecting a Lithuanian Christmas to be. Yesterday I spent six hours home alone making cinnamon rolls, doing my laundry, and decorating the Christmas tree. My two older host brothers, Thomas-28 & Justas-24, showed up around 6pm, and then we all went over to Violet's parents' flat for the traditional Lithuanian Christmas eve dinner. It started with Thomas reading the Christmas story (or at least part of it), and then Violet's father saying a wish he has for each of us for the next year. (His wish for me is that I learn Lithuanian so he can talk to me and I'll understand him!) Then we each had a rectangular wafer (styrofoam!) thing and everyone broke a piece off of everyone's and ate it. The meal consisted of at least 12 dishes (there are only supposed to be 12, but both of Violet's parents like to cook, so there were more than 12), most of them included herring. Meat is not allowed at all on Christmas day, but fish is not considered meat. I tried everything, but since I hadn't eaten much for three days I took it easy and didn't eat a lot of anything besides the potatoes with mushroom sauce (because they were bland and yummy!!). Violet and I went to mass at 10pm, and the church was packed with people. The only two Christmas songs that were sung (by a kids choir) were "Silent Night" and "We wish you a Merry Christmas", both in Lithuanian. After church we came back to the flat and all of us (Violet, Paulius, Justas, and I-Thomas stayed at his grandparents' because I'm living in the room he stays in when he visits) spent the next several hours on computers or watching TV. I finally went to bed a little after 2am! After a sound night's sleep I woke up at 9:30, but nobody else was awake yet. I stayed in bed 'till 10:15 or so and then got ready to go to church. At 10:30 I came out of my room, and Violet had just gotten up and wasn't planning on going to church. I went alone to a church that's about 8 minutes away from here. It's a small church, but it was full this morning. I was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy when I went outside this morning because there was still snow on the ground, and the wasn't a cloud in the sky!!!! The day was absolutely gorgeous:) The church service was only about 40 minutes long, and then I walked around in the park right next to the church for about 20 minutes! The days are so short right now that I couldn't bear to go straight back inside. While I was in the park I took a zillion pictures and just enjoyed the beautiful day! Back at the flat Violet was still the only one up, so the two of us had breakfast (cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa!) by the Christmas tree, and then I opened all the packages from home. Thank you to everyone who remembered me today. I love hearing from all of you!! At 2:45 everyone was finally up and ready to go to the grandparents' for lupper (it was supposed to be lunch, but it got a little late for that). We had turkey, pork, and more herring, along with some salads and duona (bread). After lunch we talked for a little bit, and then played the board game "Lietuva" (I bought it a few months ago to learn more about country) for two hours. It was a fun way to spend the evening, and I learned a lot! Violet and I won, too! Violet's parents wanted to see pictures of my home and family, so we spent about an hour looking at those before Thomas drove us back to the flat. This evening I got to share Christmas with my family for a little bit which was very nice!! Now it's the 26th here, and there are no plans for today (as of right now anyway), so I can sleep in! I wish you all a very blessed Christmas season and I hope today is filled with Joy, Love, Hope, and Peace! Merry Christmas:) Love and Hugs, Naomi