Happy New Year!

It's New Year's Eve and I'm in a new place. It will be interesting to see how New Year's is celebrated here. As we found out, Christmas is a family oriented time and the city slows to a crawl. We can tell, that New Year's is different. We have seen more tour buses in the city and more activity on the cruise boats on the Danube. It looks like it will be a big party time, tonight. I went to the market about noon today and things at the market were closing up. Some of the vendors spots were covered and other vendors were counting their money. The bakery stand that I see on first arriving at the market was completely empty! And I saw street vendors selling party favors and sparklers on my way to the market.

We enjoyed our Christmas here in Budapest. On Christmas Eve we attended a service at the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Pest. We had been told that the public transportation doesn't operate after about 4 pm on Christmas Eve. We rode the tram over to the Pest side at about 2:30. We wanted to go to the Christmas market one more time and have some of their food. We had these huge sausages with piece of bread. They were very tasty and the mustard that accompanies the sausage is far superior to our yellow mustard. It was cold though, sitting at a picnic table on the square, so when had finished eating, we moved on to find somewhere warm. The Christmas Eve service didn't start until 5:30 so we had lots of time to wander. The hotel was only about 2 blocks from the square, so not very far. We did find one shopping area that was indoors and though the shops weren't open, we could go in and get warmed up. We also went and had coffee at the hotel. The hotel is right on the Danube and across the river in Buda, the old Castle sits up high above the river. It was very pleasant to sit and have coffee and enjoy the view.

The Christmas Eve service was very nice. The music ranged from White Christmas to O Holy Night. The musicians were wonderful and there was a candlelight song as well. The service was held in the ballroom of the hotel and there was a very large crowd there. It was a wonderful time of worship and praise and in a very beautiful setting. I suppose I should say we missed the snow, but we didn't. After the service, we walked back to the library. It was chilly but not very windy and the streets were quiet. We walked through the tourist area on Pest, which is a pedestrian mall that covers many blocks. There were several restaurants along that mall that were open and they even had some of the wait staff out on the street, inviting us in for hot wine and goulash soup. We declined as the big sausage we had eaten was still filling us. We walked across the Liberty Bridge and enjoyed looking both up and down river. It was a very pleasant quiet walk. The view is great - I did try to take pictures, but my camera is not sophisticated enough to capture the lights.

Merrill and I opened gifts on Christmas morning. I have to admit without children's excitement, there is a little less of a thrill. A friend from home had sent a box with many seperate gifts in it and that was fun to open. I cooked dinner for the two of us and am learning to be pretty efficient with my mini stove. Later in the day on Christmas, we "skyped" with our children. We feel really blessed to be able to do that because we have been told that 10 to 15 years ago, those who came to Hungary waited months to get phones in their residences. Being able to talk to the kids on skype is a good way to stay connected.

Our wish for all of you in 2009, is to have work that makes you happy and relationships that fulfill you. May our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ bless each one of you as you seek to serve Him.