By Jessica Rowe
One place with every reason to spend this Christmas outdoors was Christchurch.
It was largely aftershock free today but Anglican churches in the city were not taking any chances and held their services outdoors.
The voices of the Cathedral choir sang out in celebration of Christmas day, in a special outdoor service at the Botanic Gardens.
It has been a tough year for Christchurch residents, and church-goers were relieved to be able to reflect on 2011 in peace and in safety.
Despite the threat of ongoing aftershocks, thousands of Cantabrians gathered in safe open spaces across the region to celebrate Christmas and pray for their broken city.
Churches wanted to avoid having large numbers of people in closed spaces in case of further aftershocks, due to engineers being unable to check for further damage to church buildings.
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