The New Chapel was all decked out with Christmas decorations. We also had a nice little lunch. It's something I'd stereotypically expect from England: cute, little sandwiches, tangerines, and tea. There was also a variety of Japanese pickles that I tried but didn't like. After lunch, we had cake. Christmas cake. It's a Japanese tradition. It's mainly a white sponge cake with whipped cream and strawberries. It was good. Very light. But the cold Christmas season always makes me crave really rich foods, like hot cinnamon rolls!
Hisashi gave a sermon about Mary. I liked the spin he gave on it. He said that Jesus was not the hero of Christmas. It was a woman, Mary. The mother. It was a nice way to reach all the women and make the story of Christmas personal to them.
After lunch and sermon, we exchanged gifts. I was prepared this time! I made another yarn lei with the stuff I had left over. It was a lot of fun to exchange the gifts. It was kinda like musical chairs. Finally, the most stopped and I got my gift. It was a ceramic cup. It was really nice for 500 yen! Plus it was wrapped in a really nice handkerchief. It was like getting two presents instead of one. And who got my lovely pink lei? Hiromitsu! Not quite fit for a guy. At first he thought it was some sort of scarf! But maybe Ayumi would like it...After presents, we had a candlelit service. I don't remember everything that was said. But, Hisashi lit his big red candles. Then one by one we each lit our own little white candles. In the end, it looked quite nice. After saying a prayer, we blew our candles out. And that was it!
It was a nice little service/party for the ladies. I hope they enjoyed it and were blessed by it. Now, on to my third party...
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