Christmas Day - Napier

Christmas Day! And totally unlike any I’ve ever had before – warm, sunny, and going to church in a cathedral on Christmas morning. We still had stockings in bed in the morning – very small ones, because of flying – and opened the presents my family had sent with us. Emma’s decorations and the tiny paper crib that Sammie gave us are now up and on display, and greatly appreciated! Rob liked Sammie’s present to him as well…
The cathedral at Napier is like everywhere else, rebuilt after the earthquake. And consequently unlike any other cathedral I’ve ever been in, except possibly Coventry. Not that it looked like Coventry, but there was that same rising-out-of-the-ashes feeling about it. The service was an odd mixture of quite formal and laid-back New Zealand style both at once. The Dean mentioned both Tom Wright and T. S. Eliot in his sermon!
We spent the afternoon going out for a walk or two, with pauses for cups of tea. Saw some new birds, but my photographs of them didn’t come out – we think I was too gentle with the camera button. Saw gannets (I could identify those) and a shore bird I haven’t discovered yet, that looked rather like a ringed plover – next time I’m in a bookshop, I’ll look it up. I also took lots of architecture photographs that failed to come out as well – poooey.
We’d booked dinner at a hotel – just as well, because the only other place that was open was Kentucky Fried Chicken! Strawberry and fizz cocktails when we arrived, and then hot bread rolls, followed by butternut squash and apple soup (I have to try that out at home), turkey and bacon terrine (me) and tomato, mozzarella and basil salad (Rob), then a carvery with all the usual suspects, a pudding that was three puddings in one, and more than we could eat, and tea and Christmas cake (we took that home with us).
Then we went out for a walk along the seafront, and watched the sky grow dark, and discussed the fascinating book we picked up in Hamilton, called Why Men Hate Going To Church – v. thought-provoking, and quite a bit of it I agreed with for me, and I’m not a man! It was a lovely day, even if it didn’t quite feel like Christmas day, and I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.