The Unexpected

Christmas Eve began with the children's nativity - a service led by the young people in the church and their leaders. We always gain a lot from seeing the familiar Christmas story retold from their perspective. At the beginning of the service, the Children's Leader observed that the service title had been amended in the name of grammar, and in so doing had removed the pun from the title! How quick we are to decide things are wrong, even when they are not!

Mary keeps a close eye on Jesus

Due to the snow earlier in December, the group had lost valuable rehearsal time. All credit to them for pulling together such a great service in such a short time.

Initially 'Mary' was reluctant to take part, requiring a bit of encouragement from 'Gabriel', before getting into the swing of things.  Once in role, 'Mary' kept a keen eye on baby Jesus (played by a doll), who obediently stayed asleep during 'Mary's' watch. Joseph was played by Mary's older sister.  One of the Wise Men was not happy that his sisters were centre stage and he wasn't. He decided to rectify matters by making an unscheduled visit to the stable somewhat earlier in the story than is custom. In fact, this particular Wise Man beat the shepherds to their destination by a good 15 minutes or so. Meanwhile Mary got bored and wandered off... Did it matter? Not in the slightest. We all knew the story and it did not detract from the accompanying message in the slightest!  Before I move on I must mention 'Herod', he was the star of the show. The story progressed through the alphabet, and Herod kept appearing, suggesting how each letter could refer to him. A great role, well played :)

Frazzled foliage

We rang the bells at the parish church for the Midnight Communion - which entailed ringing from 10:15 - 11:15pm, and getting the bells down after the service, and in doing so ticked the box for ringing on Christmas Day.  One ringer was promoted downstairs to help with the service. Fortunately we were joined by another irregular, regular ringer visiting from the north, enabling all six bells to be rung.  One of our regular ringers toddled off early, as he was definitely under the weather, but hadn't wanted to let us down. Towards the end of the service, the advent wreath made a somewhat sharper exit, after the foliage caught fire. Fortunately, it was spotted and speedily extinguished, even before the acrid aroma reached the back corner of the building where we were located.

On Christmas Day the KHT appeared looking shattered after a late night, having climbed over her presents without noticing them...  Unusually we had no new clothing to wear this year.

Another family member cooked most of the dinner, our responsibility was the turkey and the pudding.  The bird was nicely browned off by the time we returned from church. Nine of us sat down for dinner, fiften for tea.  The grandchildren are lovely individually but collectively have the power of a volcano, producing eruptions of noise and emotion.  No's 1, 2 and 3 have yet to acquire the ability to engage in polite conversation, preferring to bellow over each other with an alarmingly high levels of decibels that well and truly fry my brain, and remind me of my advancing years.

Grandchildren 4 and 5 have yet to grasp that presents do not come in a never-ending supply. No. 4's insistent
"I need some more presents" and No. 5's optimistic but heartfelt request for
"More presents?" were a recurring refrain.

Christmas is a very confusing time for both children and adults. I know presents will not bring happiness, yet I still delight in giving gifts.
As a family we love to gather, yet the very gathering makes us weary.
We eat too much, knowing we will regret it tomorrow.

Christmas is our justification for our seasonal excesses. Yet this was not the justification that Christ came to bring. Instead He offered the gift of redemption, given freely, but a gift that we have to chose to accept. The unexpected, overlooked and forgotten gift. Free, but given with love at great cost. Surely this unexpected gift is the best.