PH and I slept in (for us) all the way to 7 a.m. A leisurely breakfast of Swedish pancakes with lingonberries, then a drive to Annapolis to wander through shops and have crabcakes. We came home, I wrote the sermon for 12/30, I cooked us dinner (steak, pureed cauliflower, zucchini sauteed with garlic, dishes of fresh raspberries with whipped cream, red wine) and rewrote the sermon for 12/30. I suspect it will go through at least one more rewrite before it's done.
In 90 minutes we'll drive to St P's, my home parish, to sing with the choir for the 11 pm service. Candles, a packed house, a lot of familiar carols and a few unfamiliar ones, hugs with friends, then home by 1 a.m.
StrongOpinions is up north at her dad's, Litigator and StoneMason are working through the holidays.
The quiet is good.
Tomorrow we may actually sleep until 8 a.m. A blessed Christmas in so many ways to each and every one of you!
(P.S. - for Lorraine - the high tea was fabulous. Little open-faced sandwiches with cucumber and shrimp, egg salad, chicken mousse. Scones with clotted cream, lemon curd, raspberry spread. Mini-pastries with chocolate mousse, raspberry tarts, pine nut and candied fruit tarts. A glass of champagne. At least a dozen teas to choose from. Plus great conversation. We've decided that this will be a tradition amongst us. Life is good!)
Thank you for that p.s. about the tea! It sounds wonderful... definitely I'm going to try to get there one day.
ReplyDeleteI hope your Christmas Eve service was good. Ours was lovely, as always -- complete with children's nativity, lots of missed cues, good music, "Silent Night" and everyone with a lit candle -- no one caught themselves or anything else on fire. I did the Advent wreath with the kids and "Mary" was already dressed for the pageant, so she declined to light a candle -- she said she was "too wrapped up" and I thought yes, let's ask someone else -- just what I need during my first Christmas Eve as the pastoral intern --to catch Mary on fire! (not funny..)
Enjoy the break from classes. We go back on Thursday the 24th. Between now and then I'm spending two weeks in New Mexico, for our required "cross-cultural immersion". Do you have something like that at your school?
Merry Christmas! :)
A cross-cultural immersion is not required, but many students do one. I spent last January in the Middle East, working at an Anglican church that served the very diverse expat community (24 nationalities, 14 faith traditions). If you look at my archives for Jan 07 you'll see the story. I'd love to go back there, but I'd also really like to go to Honduras or the Dominican republic for a Jan term to get my Spanish better. Maybe next Jan after General Ordination Exams...or maybe I'll just go to a Hispanophone place with a beach...
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