I was awake at seven, and making breakfast by a quarter to eight, to be sure I was ready to leave for St Peter's by nine. Owain, Clare and I had breakfast together. The others hadn't surfaced yet, and not so surprising, considering how hard they've been working. Kath and Anto collected Rhiannon from work. She's been working as a Christmas Elf in Santa's grotto at Hatton County Park for the last month.
The rain was unremitting. I was impressed that we were a congregation of thirty adults and around ten children on such a wet morning. Each week of Advent, the Sunday School presented colourful nativity images in windows made of tissue paper with cut out figures of the Holy Family in relief. These were mounted in the windows on each side of the nave. Despite the dull weather the images added colour and cheer to a dull day. I hope the display will stay up for all forty days of Christmastide. I suggested they be videod for YouTube, so house bound parishioners and far off family members can see them.
I was back home by eleven. Owain and Clare were in the throes of preparing the turkey for tomorrow. I contributed with a stuffing of sausage meat, walnut and apple stuffing. Owain then went into town for last minute shopping, while Clare and I had a snack lunch. Later I cooked a pasta sauce ready for supper once the Kenilworth crew arrive. It was good to slow down and start to relax and doze awhile, conscious of the need to conserve energy for tonight's late service at St Catherine's.
Kath, Anto and Rhiannon arrived at half past six, and we sat down to a pasta supper and began the joyous process of catch-up. It's been an eventful year for all out us, so there's lots to tell. It was great to listen to Rhiannon talk about her 'ministry' to kinds as an Elf. Everyone's here who's coming, but we're al missing Rachel and Jasmine in Arizona, though we did get to have a long video call with her after supper.
At half past ten, I slipped away to church to get ready early for Midnight Mass
No comments:
Post a Comment