Christmas in Belfast and New Year's on the continent

This post is the first in a string of posts that I will be writing to make up for my delinquent curation of this blog. That's why I'm talking about Christmas in April.

Belfast City Hall decorated for Christmas/photo stolen from Edward Lewis

I love Christmas. I love everything about it. The smells, the lights, the decorations, the giving/receiving of gifts, the hymns you only sing during Advent, special carol services, and all the other trappings of the holiday bring me great joy and reduce me to a giddy, giddy child when that time of year rolls around. I also love the message of the Advent season: the son of the God we worship as omnipotent coming as a helpless child and bringing with Him salvation, life, resurrection. The birth of Christ is the largest milestone in the human narrative. It is the epoch by which we categorize all time, an occasion certainly worth the largest celebration of the year. Of course the season surrounding Christmas is filled with loads of religious observances and celebrations which lend themselves to the festive atmosphere one experiences during the month of December. I like this because, well, I like to party and I can hardly think of a better reason to party than the coming of the Christ. You know who else likes to party? Belfast. The entire city of Belfast. I have never seen a city do Christmas so well and it was a pleasure to be here to experience the celebration and join in on the festivities. One of the favorite YAV activities during the holidays was to visit the Belfast Christmas Continental Market. The market is basically a village built on the lawn of City Hall filled with everything you could possibly imagine. I already know the questions you're asking:  Anything for kids? Oh, yes! A carousel AND Santa Claus himself. Anything for adults? In fact, there was a bar shaped like a giant teepee. Food? Anything from crepes to crocodile burgers(seriously)! Will we be able to purchase trinkets? Of course, including but not limited to a tie-dye howling wolf sweatshirt, a hat that looks like a fish is eating your head, enough incense to choke a hippie, and loads of other things that you could never possibly need but somehow desperately want. I am not exaggerating when I tell you I must have visited the market 15 times.

Our snow covered garden. Don't think that rug ever did get dry.

Along with the joys of frenzied consumerism that the Christmas season brings, we also enjoyed a tremendous amount of snow. In fact, it was my first white Christmas! I finally understand what Bing Crosby was singing about! There were many Advent activities accompany the snow and they complemented each other very well. FMPC hosted a cross-community carol service where the good folks from Holy Family Catholic Parish joined in with us Presbyterians to sing songs of praise and thanks for the gift of that baby that brought joy to the world.

I spent my first Christmas day away from home with The Stewarts. They're a really great family and it's been a blessing to get to know them while I've been here at FMPC. Michael Stewart, the youngest, is in the church band and his mom, Heather, is very active in the Monday Night Bible Study and various other church activities. It was a really nice day and I was very thankful to have been invited to spend time with them. They were the quintessence of hospitality.

John Killian: American Tourist. 

A couple of days after Christmas Edward Lewis, Jo Lanigan, and I headed to Dublin to catch a flight to Brussels. We were to spend the remainder of the Christmas holiday in the Belgian city of Brugge(or Bruges) and Amsterdam. It was a fantastic trip. Brugge is like a fairytale city, especially when it's covered in snow. Brugge, much like Amsterdam, is filled with bridges and canals and is very lovely. I think we walked every inch of the city in the few days we were there. It was a very relaxed sort of place and did absolutely nothing to prepare us for the tourist convention that would be Amsterdam. While in Brugge we Couchsurfed in the nearby town of Torhout with a lady named Fabienne. She treated us to dinner every night and we had  our own attic room which was very comfortable. She was a great host. 

LtoR: Jo, Me, Fabienne, and Edward

After a few days in Belgium we hopped on the train and headed to Amsterdam. It's hard for me to discuss Amsterdam without getting a little choked up because, after spending a few days in the city (including New Year's Eve and New Year's Day) I am almost certain that belong there. Bikes everywhere! Cars that respect pedestrians! It is the most walkable city I've ever been in and it probably helps that it's also the flattest. We had a great time in Amsterdam. We stayed two nights in a building that used to be the city hall of Blaricum(described to us as the Beverly Hills of Holland). The building had been converted into a very large community house and there were about 7 students living there. We decided to spend New Year's Eve with them and it was one of the best decisions that was made during the duration of the trip. We headed back to Belfast on New Year's Day. It was a great trip and a wonderful way to end what was an amazing year.