Spending our first Christmas at Sea with the Virgin Cruise

Monday - Our First Merry Christmas at Sea December 25, 2023 was our first Christmas spent on a cruise ship! We thanked God for His blessing that we could spend time together as a family with our son peacefully and happily with good health. It was truly a blessing for having good health and the mobility to enjoy this cruise trip! Thank you God, for your grace and mercy! I was busy reading and sending out Christmas greetings from our cruise ship to friends and families. We got a call from Y. who called us wishing us merry Christmas. It warms our heart every time when our son remembers us on these special occasions. We talked for almost an hour and I was able to share a Christmas message with him, prasie God! After the phone call, we met E. on Deck 15 for breakfast. He didn't seem like too happy and not in a good mood at all. I wondered what went wron Then two nice ladies came by and told E. that they were looking for him. E. was wondering why these two ladies didn't return his messages since they had so much fun together at the pool party the night before. At last, He figured out that he had their phone number wrong. They had a good chat and I even met their mom. What a nice family! After this, E, was happy again as he found out the real reason why his messages were not returned.

We still had almost $200.00 bar credit so we had it transferred to E. who could use it with his friends. As a Chrsitiian family, Chrsitmas has an importnat place in our lives. We always have big celebrations with family and church friends at home. One of the traditions we have been carrying on for all these years is exchanging gifts with family members on Christmas day. We enjoy buying gifts for each other and the value of the gifts are not important, but the thoughts and love represented in these gifts are more meaninful to us. We went to the roof top terrace, sat on a swing and opened the presents together. The whole thing didn't last for too long but it was an important moment and occasion for us. However, when the gift opening was over, I kicked myself afterwards for not taking the time to pray and share a few scriptures with E. O, God, forgive me and please help me to be a better Christian parent. May the holy spirit remind me next time to grab every opportunity to share the word of God with our loved ones and with whosoever we come into contact.

We had our Christmas dinner at the Pink Agave restaurant, our first Christmas dinner ever on a cruise chip. We enjoyed the dinners on this cruise a lot! The food was quite good with polite and attentive serving staff. No complain at all. There were lots to do after dinner on the ship. There were always shows and entertainment throughout the ship's theatres and lounges. This evening, we went to

the karaoke lounge where audiences were not just listening to the songs but also active participants taking the stage and bell out their songs wiht gusto. We met up with E.'s new friends, had some drinks, talked and enjoyed other sailors' performance. A fun time. E. did an excellent job introduing newcomers to the group and getting people together. I had a good chat with M's mom too. Loved that we were able to have a good time with our son and his newly made friends together. An enjoyable evening indeed! RT, On Board the Virgin Cruise Ship 25122023