Christmas

One of the churches that also held a service on Friday evening was the Congregational Christian Church Samoa at Vaigaga.

Led by Reverend Tautua, the service included messages for everyone during this Christmas celebrations is to remember that the birth of Jesus symbolises the birth of light in the world.

He also said that with everything that is happening around the world.

 "We must not forget God is powerful and rules over our world. 

"May we welcome Christmas through God's will and love upon each and every one of us."

A source said it was felt the annual event could put too many people's Christmas plans at risk.

It follows England chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty's advice to prioritise events "that really matter" to avoid the risk of infection.

The event had been due to take place early next week at Windsor Castle.

The Queen's decision comes as families across the UK consider their Christmas plans in the light of the country's biggest Covid surge yet.

Ten of their customers, five each from Uoplu and Savaii were gifted $200 each after their names were drawn from a competition.

Pacific Ezy’s country manager, Magele Daniel Ah Kau presented the prizes to the winners.

“We're very fortunate to have remained Covid-19 free and we know it's affected us financial so we thought we'd spread a smile as we head towards Christmas.”

It's light-hearted moments where the Royals come together to play board games or exchange gifts and more formal ones dictated by extremely strict protocols developed over decades.

For those lucky enough to make the list, it means having up to seven outfits ready for Christmas Day alone - and that doesn't include a pair of stretchy pants for dinner.

But after a year plagued by coronavirus, lockdowns and scandal, it appears Christmas will be a much more toned-down affair with everyone spending the holiday apart.

For many families, it's an annual tradition to travel to the islands to see their families and re-connect with their culture, and for others it is a long awaited holiday away from New Zealand.

Kaumosi Opie, aged 34, visited Tuvalu last year for the first time since she moved to New Zealand as a 9 year old.

It was at that trip where her and her sister decided they will make it a tradition to visit Tuvalu every Christmas.

Wani, a cashier who works at Eriku in Lae, is the lucky winner of K1,000 on November 27th with Digicel’s Christmas daily cash and prize giveaways.

The excited mother of one said: “Displa mani em blo pikinini blo mi (this money will be for my son). Mi bai kisim go lo kisim wanem kain presen em laikim lo em.” (I will get him whatever present he wants.)

The couple arrived at a carol service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Queen returned after missing last year's service due to a heavy cold.

Princes Philip and Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall also attended, along with other members of the family.

After the service, Ms Markle joined members of the family in greeting the crowds - some of whom had been waiting outside since 05:00 GMT.

It's no wonder the festive season is a peak time for weight gain many of us spend the entire year ahead trying to reverse.

Long ago, about 2000 years, when King Herod ruled Judea (now part of Israel), God sent the angel Gabriel to a young woman who lived in the northern town of Nazareth. The girl's name was Mary and she was engaged to marry Joseph.

The angel Gabriel said to Mary: 'Peace be with you! God has blessed you and is pleased with you.' Mary was very surprised by this and wondered what the angel meant.

A story says that a choirmaster, in 1670, was worried about the children sitting quietly all through the long Christmas nativity service. So he gave them something to eat to keep them quiet! As he wanted to remind them of Christmas, he made them into a 'J' shape like a shepherds crook, to remind them of the shepherds that visited the baby Jesus at the first christmas. However, the earliest records of 'candy canes' comes from over 200 years later, so the story, although rather nice, probably isn't true!