First off I love Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. So after hosting a Christmas Eve get together with friends B and I headed over - I even figured we'd get there early like 11 instead of 12. OMG BIG MISTAKE! There was standing room only in the courtyard of the church where mass was being held (come to find out) as well as standing room only in the church itself. Fortunately the balcony has a children's room where we were able to sit and wait the hour until mass started. At 1:30 we left church as they were just getting to the communion aspect and B had been asleep on and off since we left the house. If that was an indication of what Easter mass will be like I may need to do some serious planning if I want to go to Easter Vigil!
The other important part I learned about Christmas in Al Ain this year was that it is impossible to find Peppermint flavoring as well as Chex cereal. To me these two things are staples for Christmas but now that I am aware I will plan ahead for next year. Not a big deal overall.
The biggest thing I learned was how wonderful it is to not be in a hurry. In the US it's gotten to the point that there are a million holiday parties and shopping and cookie exchanges and people are working right up to the last minute. Here that's not the case. The malls aren't any busier than normal - we've been out of school over a week so there was no rush. There were a couple holiday parties but they organized themselves in a way that they didn't overlap so it wasn't a big deal. To me this has been a great Christmas because it wasn't busy, we've been able to enjoy the time we have with everyone and not worry about the chaos that usually surrounds the holidays.
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