starry greetings...

[jay]

Merry Christmas, to those who observe it... and a pleasant day as well to others.

Here... just finished wrapping the last few gifts, at 2:30am. The kids will be up in 4 hours...

Late-night Christmas Eve service... ritual, robes, processional... solemn pause, then five hundred voices all singing "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful" locked together in unison... sent chills down my arms and back. We attended a local Episcopal church in Marietta, after geekchick's namesake saint (St. Catherine's :). Sat behind a gay man and next to a large autistic black man who was with his mother and kept rocking and making comfort sounds. Semi-casual dress... it all felt like home, and lovely. Candlelit, at the end, lit from the Advent candles.

Earlier, we'd finished shopping, and then accompanied my siblings and kids and my mother to my brother's church for their family Christmas Eve service... conservative evangelical, it was slightly uncomfortable. Then a large family dinner and carols together... it was fun. My father sang a little, too.

Comments

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

that sounds like an utterly lovely service. Would have been delighted to have been with you.

(Due to some complications here-- like a housemate with a flat tire who was running late to the airport, and an uncooperative dog or two-- I ended up not making it to Christmas Eve services myself. My church doesn't ordinarily do a Christmas day service, but since it is Sunday, there will be the option for me to go to church.)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I hope that it works out, dear... and a merry and happy Christmas to you, too.