Christmas comes

At lunchtime on Christmas Eve, Kath, Anto and Rhiannon arrived, still jet lagged from their trip to Cuba and full of stories. Owain joined us as well to complete this year's festive complement. After we'd eaten, we looked at the photos they'd taken, and then for me it was off to St German's for the evening Vigil Mass with blessing of the Crib. It was surprising to see how little traffic there was as I drove over at the very time the last of the shops would have been closing. Little sign of revelling on the streets.  Over sixty people were present for the Mass, a quarter of them children. Half those attending took Communion. After the service, with much wild ringing of the sacristy bell, one of the servers appeared, disguised as Santa, with a sack full of gifts for the children. I was given one as I was leaving, to take home for Rhiannon, plus a bottle of Gin for me.

The streets were deserted when I returned for the 11.30 Midnight Mass. On such a cold wet night, it's not surprising that there were only three dozen in the congregation, but everyone sang enthusiastically to make up for it. It was half past one when I returned home, and found a note charging me with home Santa duties, plus full disguise and sack. Rhiannon was awake until after her parents' bed time, not only because of excitement, but because her body clock was still telling her it was tea time, not the middle of the night.

By the time I was up and out of the house for the 10.00am Mass of Christmas Day, I was beginning to feel just a bit jaded. These days, I'm not so good at very late night activities other than sitting writing. Again there were about three dozen of us for this service, very few children, but we did have a young baby. By two o'clock we were all sitting down together to our traditional festive banquet, right on schedule. My only disappointment was that apart from me, none of the family had gone to worship. By mid-afternoon, my usual Christmas Day fatigue began to set in. I think next year I'll have to give Midnight Mass a miss unless it finishes at least and hour earlier.