First carol service this year

I woke up early, posted the day's YouTube link to WhatsApp and dozed until half past eight. It's unseasonably mild at ten degrees for a second day. 

There were nine of us at the St John's Eucharist. When I got back home I finished and uploaded next Thursday's Morning Prayer, and then started work on a reflection for the week after next, as Ruth emailed two sets of readings this week. It makes life easier when there are so many distractions at such a sociable time of year.

Then I caught the bus into town to buy the Christmas salmon, some laver bread and cooked prawns which we'll have for lunch before we head for Kenilworth with the salmon tomorrow afternoon. I love the festive seasonal atmosphere of the Market in the days before joining people waiting to be served and chatting. It puts a big happy grin on my face no matter how cold or damp it may be. I took my rucksack to carry the fish home, but it was too long to fit into it, so I had to lug it awkwardly to the bus in a huge white plastic bag that was uncomfortably heavy to hold. Thankfully, no mishaps. It's squeezed into the fridge ready for transport tomorrow. 

I went to the St Catherine's Carol Service early evening. There were about eighty in the congregation and twenty in an augmented choir. Very pleasing to see attendance at a weeknight pre Christmas service back at the pre-covid level. When the children sang Away in a Manger, two girls dressed in ballet tutus bedecked with tinsel danced a pas de Deux, representing the angels. Touchingly beautiful, and a great enhancement to the service.

I had a late supper of beans on toast when I returned, and tried to find something I could settle down and watch, but couldn't find anything that retained my attention. So I did my daily DuoLingo Spanish drill, and then went to bed.