...is a glorious feast:"the wealth of nations will come to you; camels in throngs will cover you, and dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, everyone in Sheba will come"...and we had golden vestments and the Kings in the crib-scene in church moved in, edging out the shepherds adoring the Christ-child. An email from a friend in Ukraine reminded me that today is Christmas Day in the Julian calendar - he sent seasonal greetings from a sparkling snowbound land several degrees below zero...
Jamie and I dressed up in our best yesterday evening and went off to my cousin's for a party...only to find, on arrival, that the party had been on Friday! Ooops...however, we were warmly welcomed, and Angela poured drinks, lit candles on the dinner-table and we were given a delicious supper ("we've got stacks of food left over - come and help us eat it!") with a variety of wonderful puddings, and we talked and laughed and all enjoyed ourselves hugely!
On Friday I was actually at a party at Mothers - all the residents of the flats where she lives gather together each year for a congenial celebration, at which I traditionall provide a Quiz, and the son-in-law of another resident sings, and there is a lovely buffet...it all went extremely well, with the Quiz getting everyone talking, especially the bits about English history, kings and queens, who married who, Alfred burning the cakes and Queen Victoria's daughter marrying the Crown Prince of Prussia, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, and all those Hanoverian Georges, and so on.
Jamie and I dressed up in our best yesterday evening and went off to my cousin's for a party...only to find, on arrival, that the party had been on Friday! Ooops...however, we were warmly welcomed, and Angela poured drinks, lit candles on the dinner-table and we were given a delicious supper ("we've got stacks of food left over - come and help us eat it!") with a variety of wonderful puddings, and we talked and laughed and all enjoyed ourselves hugely!
On Friday I was actually at a party at Mothers - all the residents of the flats where she lives gather together each year for a congenial celebration, at which I traditionall provide a Quiz, and the son-in-law of another resident sings, and there is a lovely buffet...it all went extremely well, with the Quiz getting everyone talking, especially the bits about English history, kings and queens, who married who, Alfred burning the cakes and Queen Victoria's daughter marrying the Crown Prince of Prussia, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, and all those Hanoverian Georges, and so on.
A correspondent to this Blog asked about hymns for St Stephen's Day (Boxing Day, Dec 26th). I just happened to notice something useful in the hymn-book at Mass today: (Laudate hymnal, published by Decani music, 1999) - there is a hymn beginning "By all your saints still striving/for all your saints at rest..." which has a whole set of extra verses for various different saints, with the feast-days listed, and there is one for St Stephen: "All praise, O Lord, for Stephen/who, martyred, saw you stand/to help in time of torment/to plead at God's right hand..." The author is given as "Jerry D.Godwin, based on H. Nelson (1823-1913)". I don't know the tune, but the words to fit to a number of standard tunes including, for example "The Church's one foundation"...
And now this evening I shall take down the cards and decorations, and the wreath from the door, and start dealing with dull things.
4 comments:
Tut, tut, Auntie - Christmastide does not end until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I know the unfortunate transfer of the Solemnity of the Epiphany to the nearest Sunday means that the two feasts are conflated in most years, but, because Epiphany falls on Sunday this year, we are treated to an extra week of Christmastide. Perhaps this is a good moment to invite our bishops to revisit their sad decision.
Yes Fr Guy's leaving his up until the Baptism of Our Lord..ours are half up..half down!Compromise..lol
I have compromised also - left up the cribs [all of them - the house is on several floors] but taken down the cards and decorations. Also cut up the tree into tiny pieces to feed the fire - lots of crackling! I wanted to tell you I gave my daughter a copy of your new book for Christmas and she was delighted with it. The children turned up for Mass this morning in crowns with the eldest [6] leading the way with a star on a stick! the crowns lent a little gravitas to the occasion and no-one wriggled very much at all!
Amette
Happy new Year Joanna and again thank you for your interesting blog which I love reading.
I am delighted you noticed a hymn to St. Stephen in the Laudate Hymnal. Our Priest will be so pleased, as we want to make the feast of St. Stephen more memorable for our Servers. Thank you so much for taking the trouble to find it for me and thank you from our Priest and Servers.
Can't seem to register my name, so apologise for being anonymous!
Post a Comment