Happy Boxing Day!
Greetings and a belated Merry Christmas to you all! I trust you had a peaceful and joyous celebration of Christ's birth. My first working Christmas turned out well...I survived to tell the tale!
The couple of days leading up to Christmas Eve turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic as things died down after a fairly hectic Advent. Paul recovered from his travels all day Thursday, and Friday we braved the crowds and visited the city centre. I had a couple of caroling engagements that day, but otherwise, life stayed fairly low key. Then Christmas Eve hit. I had four services that afternoon and evening. The first two were Crib Services--basically services where we tell the Christmas story and assemble the proper characters in a Nativity Scene. Fortunately, I didn't really have to do much in either of those--tell a story, say a couple of prayers. They only lasted about 30 minutes each. Those were at 2 and 4, respectively. Then, after the 4:00 service, I stayed to set up for the 11:30 service. Went home for about 30 minutes and then headed to a Service of Lessons and Carols--where all I had to do was sing. It was nice to be able to participate and not lead a service for a change. The only problem--the organist is quite advanced in age and had been feeling poorly in the week leading up to Christmas. Every song was sung slower than a funeral dirge. It was aweful. The service would have taken half the time if the carols had been at proper tempo. Then, after the service, since we were in an Anglican Church, we got to have mulled wine in the church. God bless the Anglicans! The last service of the day started at 11:30pm and included Communion. No sermon. Just some carols, reading of the Christmas story, and Communion--all with candlelight. I enjoyed it. It was a very peaceful service. Sunday morning brought the last service of the weekend with a fairly brief service of Word and Table.
Then, Paul and I went to a church members' house for Christmas lunch--complete with Christmas Crackers (not food, but difficult to explain here...) and the traditional Christmas fare--turkey, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots, topped with gravy. It was very good. No one went away hungry.
Paul and I are now in Portugal. A bit tired after our 7am flight this morning, but Paul's liking Portugal more than England at this point. It being my first trip to the Continent, I'm excited to be able to say I've been to Portugal! We'll have a few relaxing days before we go back to Norwich to start the new year.
I do hope you all are well and wish you a new year filled with joy and peace.
The couple of days leading up to Christmas Eve turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic as things died down after a fairly hectic Advent. Paul recovered from his travels all day Thursday, and Friday we braved the crowds and visited the city centre. I had a couple of caroling engagements that day, but otherwise, life stayed fairly low key. Then Christmas Eve hit. I had four services that afternoon and evening. The first two were Crib Services--basically services where we tell the Christmas story and assemble the proper characters in a Nativity Scene. Fortunately, I didn't really have to do much in either of those--tell a story, say a couple of prayers. They only lasted about 30 minutes each. Those were at 2 and 4, respectively. Then, after the 4:00 service, I stayed to set up for the 11:30 service. Went home for about 30 minutes and then headed to a Service of Lessons and Carols--where all I had to do was sing. It was nice to be able to participate and not lead a service for a change. The only problem--the organist is quite advanced in age and had been feeling poorly in the week leading up to Christmas. Every song was sung slower than a funeral dirge. It was aweful. The service would have taken half the time if the carols had been at proper tempo. Then, after the service, since we were in an Anglican Church, we got to have mulled wine in the church. God bless the Anglicans! The last service of the day started at 11:30pm and included Communion. No sermon. Just some carols, reading of the Christmas story, and Communion--all with candlelight. I enjoyed it. It was a very peaceful service. Sunday morning brought the last service of the weekend with a fairly brief service of Word and Table.
Then, Paul and I went to a church members' house for Christmas lunch--complete with Christmas Crackers (not food, but difficult to explain here...) and the traditional Christmas fare--turkey, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, stuffing, brussel sprouts, broccoli, carrots, topped with gravy. It was very good. No one went away hungry.
Paul and I are now in Portugal. A bit tired after our 7am flight this morning, but Paul's liking Portugal more than England at this point. It being my first trip to the Continent, I'm excited to be able to say I've been to Portugal! We'll have a few relaxing days before we go back to Norwich to start the new year.
I do hope you all are well and wish you a new year filled with joy and peace.
posted by RevSarah at 5:11 PM
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