Christmas

Picking up where we left off...  despite all the seasonal indicators, there were a handful of reasons why things didn't quite seem like Christmas this year.  I'll leave those off for now and touch on the week leading up to Christmas.  I attended and played for a reconciliation service at Old St. Pat's, followed by an Advent talk by Jack Shea.  Jack is a gifted story teller who really has a nice knack for bringing out impactful themes in the well-known story of Christmas.  Laura and I provided punctuating musical segments throughout the talk and it was quite nice.  Later in the week was a "night of pause", which afforded a span of time to just "be" in the quiet of our church, amidst the busyness (and business) of the season.  Aimee and Laura sang, lightly accompanied by acoustic guitar in the balcony.

We didn't do a whole lot of baking this year but Aimee adhered to her tradition, nonetheless, of making a nice batch of kolacky cookies.  A Polish and otherwise eastern European dessert item, its sweet smell of fruit and flaky butter biscuit has graced our kitchen each year.  Here is a brief video of the process....

Meanwhile, the "wine alcove" continues to be "well used" by both us drinkers of fruit of the vine and, most recently, by the incarnate Son of God and soon... wisemen (but they are currently lost).

Christmas bells are ringing!  Aimee and I were joined by Megan, as well as 12-13 budding Irish musicians, for the 3pm Christmas Eve Vigil mass in the gym next to OSP.  It was fun to have both Aimee and Megan singing -- it made for great music.  Plus it was the last time I have to play Rose in December this calendar year.

We traveled to Crown Point, Indiana for a brief, yet festive, Christmas gathering with Aimee's extended family.  Then came straight back for the Midnight mass.  Katie and Aimee sang in the choir (at least for a while) and Aimee's parents were able to come and sit with me in the assembly.  It started with an amended version of the Deck the Hall concert at 11:15pm (I'll just say for now:  there were some interesting artistic decisions made).  Fr. Hurley presided and delivered a wonderfully crafted message and created an experience of liturgy that many of us at OSP have come to expect; and that many of the "Christers" will hopefully come back to partake in.  By the way, we say some new words at mass now, pay attention folks.

We spent the first part of Christmas morning together at home and then made our way to Munster for the next two days.  Below are a sampling of pictures from that.

Many of you have heard this story...  we had an interesting experience at Blackie's recently for brunch. They were crowded because of the Bears game and this doll of a woman greets us, unconvinced if we'll be lucky enough to dine in their famed establishment due to the crowds.  She hesitates, "I think I can seat you in the bar".  She then indicates at me, and says to Aimee: "oh but he's not 21".  Merry Christmas to you too.

Coming up!  Cabaret (still to come) and a trip to Lansing in t-minus 95 minutes...