Today I ate well.
Didn't do much of anything except wash my clothes.
Finished a book called "The K-9 Citizen" by my favorite writer, David Rosenfelt.
And I watched West Virginia University (my alma mater) win a bowl game.
Besides that, I won 9 games of Hearts in a row on my computer.
A good day.
I went to Trinity, Milton on Christmas Eve afternoon for a lovely Eucharist.
My face time meeting on Tues is cancelled.
So is this Wed's Bible Study.
I'm off on Sunday.
So I have nothing to do until a week from Wednesday.
It's like I'm retired.
Which, technically, I am.
I get pension checks--very generous--from the Church Pension fund and a 734 dollar Christmas bonus. Plus Social Security every month.
But I work, very part time, at Trinity.
I love the people there and get paid well for what is essentially 2 hours a week, plus driving time, plus Sunday coffee hour--always great.
I love my life and will be practically asleep until Wednesday next!
Not bad....
Bern and I are having Christmas dinner alone.
Josh and his family are in California visiting members of Kathy's family.
Mimi, Tim and Eleanor wanted their own Christmas.
I understand completely. We did it too.
Our friend, John, was supposed to come but he is sick and stayed at home.
Strange--but not 'bad'--to be alone on Christmas.
We talked to Josh and family on the phone and Mimi and family on Face Time.
We are alone most of the time--with only Brigit, our dog, for company and it's fine.
And I prefer a quiet Christmas.
I really do.
Silent and Holy....
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
I went to Big Y this morning early (9 a.m.) to get some thing for tonight's dinner.
I've never seen such a crowd in a super market!
I got in the shortest of 5 lines and was six back and everyone bought lots of stuff.
It took nearly 50 minutes to get out of there.
The traffic going home was like rush hour in LA.
Cheshire seldom has much traffic.
The day before the day before Christmas is a busy time....
I've gotten all of Bern's Christmas presents.
They're under the tree
All that is left is for her to open them and like them.
We'll do that on Christmas Eve when I get back from the 4 p.m. service at Trinity, Milton.
One of the members, C.O., got me a driver to take me.
Amazing!
I just hope she likes her presents....
I don't like the cold--I know I've told you that before.
And I also don't like snow--to drive in it walk in it see it out the window of my office.
Where I grew up--in the mountains of West Virginia--it snowed a lot.
Everyone had chains to put on their tires because it was hard to get anywhere without driving over a mountain.
Mountains and snow are bad news.
It didn't bother me as much back then, but it does now.
No snow for Christmas is what I'm dreaming of....
CHRISTMAS EVE 2023
OK, what can I say on Christmas Eve that hasn’t been said hundreds and thousands of time before any of us was born?
It’s talked out….
I’ll let the music tonight tell you that wondrous story of the birth of Jesus.
I’ll just reflect of what is going on tonight.
Two major wars are going on—one of them in the land where Jesus was born.
Israelites and Palestinians have very close DNA. And yet they are killing each other in disturbing fashion.
Likewise, Russians and Ukrainians are closely related. Yet their conflict continues.
Besides that—members of our United States Congress are trying to deny immigrants from coming into our country.
Beloved, unless you are a Native American, you are immigrants to this land.
Mass shootings are frequent in our country.
So much is wrong as we wait for the Babe to be born in Bethlehem.
The ‘have’s’ and the ‘have-nots’ in our nation and around the world continue to become more separated.
Racial discrimination against people of color is rampant in the U.S.
States are taking away women’s rights to have a say over their own bodies.
And the Christian church is being torn apart by theological and social disagreement.
Tonight is not a ‘silent night/ Holy night’.
It is a night full of turmoil.
But a fiend of mine sent me a poem called “Sharon’s Christmas Prayer” by John Shea that put all that behind me and brought me to the creche on bended knee and in tears of joy.
Let me share it with you.
This is my Christmas gift to you.
SHARON’S CHRISTMAS PRAYER
She was five,
Sure of the facts,
And recited them
With slow solemnity
Convinced every word
Was revelation.
She said
They were so poor
They had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
To eat
And they went a long way from home
Without getting lost. The lady rode
On a donkey, the man walked, and the baby
Was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
With an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
But Three Rich men found them
Because a star lit the roof
Shepherds came and you could
Pet the sheep but not feed them
Then the baby was born
And do you know who he was?
Her quarter eyes inflated
To silver dollars.
The Baby was God.
And she jumped in the air
Whirled round, dove into the sofa
And buried her head under the cushion
Which is the only proper response
To the Good News of the Incarnation.
Be five years old again and dive into the sofa over the Good News of the Incarnation.
Merry Christmas and Amen.
