Christmas Things

 

By Brett Jordan - Flickr: The Christ Child, St Martin-in-the-Fields, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31182077

Hello All. I hope you are well. Sorry this is a bit late again but I was at church twice yesterday like a full-on religious maniac. Sunday Morning - on Coffee Rota. Fortunately, the person I was on with agreed with me in that, although we are very much "for" Christmas, this does not translate into wearing tinsel round our necks or reindeer deely-bobbers on my head. Therefore, people received their coffee from two ladies who, at first glance seemed a bit miserable but were perfectly cheerful and happily partaking of the complimentary Christmas chocolates. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade. I'm just not a very twinkly kind of person. I have never possessed a Christmas jumper and hopefully never will. I'm getting a bit Christmas fancy if I undo the top button of my cardigan. 

In the evening - it was the Carol Service. I haven't been to a Carol Service for a while (chest infection, Pandemic, lack of babysitter, lack of dog sitter - the last one may not have been true). A lovely time was had by all, especially, as far as I could hear, the four black ladies with assorted children who retired to the creche at the back of the church quite early on and had a rollicking good laugh all the way through. I think sometimes, people overestimate just how soundproofed church creches are. Other than that, all I will say is that not all Christmas carols need to be preserved forever. I don't know if you have ever sung all the verses to The First Noel but it felt a bit like we were following the Nativity (including the visit of the Wise Men) in real time. Also, O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Beautiful first verse but then enough verses for Him to come, go away and then come back again. ALSO, I slightly question the wisdom of getting a little ten-year-old sweet pea to read the ENTIRE origin story of John The Baptist. That many verses would have made the Archbishop of Canterbury's eyes go a bit mazy. 

We also left the house in the evening on Saturday. How have we survived this week?  We went to see Maestro which is the story of Leonard Bernstein. It wasn't about the music so much - West Side Story didn't get a look in. It was more about the strain that his homosexuality put on his marriage - as it would really if you think about it. There were a lot of prosthetics and also a lot of anguish which seemed to last a long time. And Carey Mulligan should win an Oscar. 

As this will probably be the last blog before Christmas, I thought I might choose a few Christmas TV highlights but I couldn't find that many in the Guardian Christmas Special. (It's free with the paper. I can't afford the Radio Times one these days). Anyway, there's a new Vera, an Agatha Christie, A Christmas Sewing Bee, More Only Connects than you can shake a stick at and I also fancy the Sister Boniface Mysteries which I haven't seen yet but like the look of. There's also the last ever episode of Ghosts and a nice documentary about the Coronation. What else could you ask for? However, any recommendations are gratefully received. 

So, I thought I would just wish you a Merry Christmas from HOH and Me. It somehow feels a bit weird carrying on with Merry Christmas Business as Usual with all that is happening in the world and I don't know about you but I have a few stories that make this year one that I will be glad to see the back of but I thought about Mike Chapman's Christ Child sculpture which is in the foyer of St Martins in the Field Church in London. The tiny life-sized baby coming out of such an overwhelming environment - against all the odds (if we believed in odds obviously) bringing hope to the whole world (literally) is both a comfort and a challenge as we have to surely play our part. 

Merry Christmas and may the God who loves and knows us better than we know ourselves look after you and give you his peace.