Christmastime: church edition

There were two major Christmas events in the Lleida church, and both were in the evening (Sat. Dec. 18^th and Sun. Dec. 19^th). Originally, I thought I wouldn’t be able to make either one because the last train leaves around 6 or so. However, guess what? A bus leaves at 9 at night on the weekends! I wasn’t too excited about wandering around Lleida at night to head to the bus station (a good walk from the train station AND a lot creepier-looking that the bus station in Tarragona), but after talking to Eli about the two events, I knew it would be worth it. Eli (short for Elisabeth) even offered to have me spend Saturday night at her house! I declined, but I was touched and grateful for her offer. Anyway, I talked to my family Saturday afternoon and then headed to Lleida after that. Unlike Christmastime at Valley Chapel, we sang NO Christmas songs AT ALL during the month of December. I think they save it all for the Christmas events. :-) So I was really excited to hear some Christmas songs!

I originally sat in my usual spot near the back when Miriam (there are two Miriams: the sweeter, quieter engaged one with the family where I’ve eaten lunch before, and then the boisterous, fun Miriam who’s the daughter of Pablo, the man who leads the singing. The fun Miriam is attending a university in Barcelona, so she can only come to church sometimes) and the girl from Mexico (I have her name written down somewhere. It begins with an I. :-)) waved me over to sit next to them up front. It was fun chatting with them, and like typical Spain, the concert started late. :-P I’m sort of used to it though; Valley Chapel runs on Spanish time as well! Anyway, I was a little concerned because I’d have to leave at a specific time in order to catch the bus. But the concert soon started, and MOST of it was FANTASTIC. There was an eclectic mix, that’s for sure! Traditional Christmas carols, flamenco guitar, a band that can only be described as Christian rock (my least favorite part. Most weren’t even from our church! Boo! They came from a different church, and the vibe was SO different that the music I hear in Lleida. It gets a little rocky, but nothing like what this group played. Bleck.), two young girls playing the recorder, some piano and violin specials (classical music, too!), accordion duets, carols for the whole church to sing, etc. Some also read poems or funny stories. The slightly odd thing was that several songs weren’t “Christmas songs”. Some were just general praise songs, and others were classic hymns in Spanish (How Great Thou Art, etc.). Not a big deal, but a liiiittle disappointing if you were aching for Christmas music. But I still heard and sang some, and I was a bit sad to find out that I would have to leave before the program ended. But I definitely did NOT want to miss the bus (but I had Eli’s number in case something went wrong :-)) and would be able to hear more the next day.

I ended up being pretty early for the bus, but waiting around wasn’t a big deal. It was also late. :-P So I could’ve stayed longer at the concert! Oh, well. Better safe than sorry, right? Anyway, everything went well, and I was back in Montblanc by 10:30ish or so.

The next day was the church service, which is always a blessing, and I spent the afternoon with Eli and her family. That family has especially been so kind to me during my months here, and it’s always good spending time with them. It was there when I tried my first paella...a seafood one at that! I’m just not a big seafood person, but I managed to eat the little lobster thing that was staring at me with its eye sockets. The rice itself was really good, and all sorts of odd seafoodish things were in it. :-) And dessert was really good...I was able to try turrón, which is a typical sweet eaten during Christmastime. Some is hard, kind of like peanut brittle, and other kids are soft...more like fudge. Polverón is another famous sweet, and it’s kind of like a powdery little cake of sorts. And finally, there are these chocolate-covered flaky breadstick-like things that are good as well.

After lunch (oh, I also stayed after the service and helped set up for the children’s program that evening. Miriam, Eli’s sister, was heavily involved in the program), Eli and I hung out at her house. She’s so nice!

And then came the evening program! THIS was the sort of thing I was aching to see! I sat with Eli (who had to leave early) and fun Miriam, and George and his girlfriend were behind me. Have I mentioned George? I have no idea if his name is really George or if it’s Jorge and he just said it was George. Anyway, he’s another great person at church. :-) He’s from South America and spent some time in the US, so his level of English is pretty good. And like most of the people here who know some English, he likes to practice with me. :-) He first introduced himself as “George, but not George Bush,” and often introduces me to other church members as George Bush’s niece. Haha! Random, but fun. Anyway, he and his girlfriend Elisabeth (yes, another Elisabeth) were behind me, and George suddenly gave me a Santa Claus hat. I noticed that quite a few people were wearing them (including fun Miriam), and I found out later that everyone wearing one was going to sing a collection of Christmas songs together. His girlfriend was concerned that George wouldn’t wear it for the songs, but he insisted that I should wear it for now and he’d get it back later. So for the first time that I can remember, I wore a Santa hat in church! Hee! It had a goofy blinky light and everything. And yes, they pulled it off when they had to sing. :-P

Anyway, the evening was filled with glorious Christmas carols in Spanish, skits done by the children, poems in Spanish and Catalan, etc. “Santa Claus” even came at the very end! :-) I think that was the weirdest part for me, both because it’s weird having Santa in church AND because Papa Noel isn’t really celebrated in Catalunya. It’s more of a central and southern Spain thing. But for whatever reason, there were several Santa references throughout the evening! Sometimes it bothered me a little, but most of the, I secretly thought it was kind of fun. :-P And the main focus was on Christ. Oh, I will never forget the excitement I felt when I sang Christmas songs in Spanish with this group of God’s people I’ve come to love. Another tears-in-my-eyes moment! :-) So between special songs, cute children’s performances, and then just fun, happy Christmas moments...it was a wonderful evening. And it finished at a normal time, so I was able to stay for the whole thing! SOO much better than the more “professional” event the day before. I’m glad I did both, but that Sunday evening event was what filled in my little Christmas-with-Christians ache. :-) A true blessing.