Christmas Tree

This is my favorite time of year--from Thanksgiving on, which includes the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons of the Church Year. (more on these later....check back!)

It's finally cold here, and we've had a wee bit o' snow--maybe more tonight and tomorrow. It's beginning to feel like the Christmas season.

Shirley and I watched the Extreme Home Makeover Home Edition tonight, their 100th show. Yeah, lots of tears--it was a great show. I'm sitting next to her, laid back on the couch and resting, when she asks the question. Now, understand--I've played drums and percussion this morning in church (Abbot/Bishop Jim celebrates Sundays, I on Wednesdays), then led the worship service we do at a local nursing home on Sunday afternoons. So I'm tired, and I have a headache. But Shirley asks the question--"Are we going to get the tree out tonight, my dear?" My body said "no," but my mind and heart said "yes." So I went and got the tree. We found one of those fiber-optic trees on sale last year, and that one went back in the living room. We have a smaller one that will go out in the Bonny Room. (In case you haven't read earlier posts, the "Bonny" is the Oratory of St. Bonaventure--a combination chapel, library, and music room. We have Morning Prayer and Eucharist in there Mon-Fri mornings, I sit behind my Yamaha drum kit out there, and the band Fungeye rehearses, writes, and records out there. It's a really cool little room.)

The tree looks great. I turned out the lights, and it just looked so cool in there. So, I'm glad she asked me to get it out tonight. (My wife's just about always right.) Sometime this week, I'll get out the smaller one and set it up out in the Bonny.

We have a nice, big Advent wreath to go out in the Bonny, and Clare, Shirley, and I will put together a new one this week for Chapel of St. Francis worship--one that will go in the living room, where our parish worships Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

The Advent season has come to Mercy House a week early (on Christ the King Sunday). Yeah, I know--you traditionalists stop nitpicking me........! :) I'm traditional, too--I just got excited this year and had to begin early. Besides, my family has always set up the tree on Thanksgiving Day. So it's really not early for that. (I know some Episcopalians who don't set up their trees until a week before Christmas or until Christmas Eve itself. And I understand why and respect that--but to me, that takes all the fun out of it.) We'll set up the Advent wreaths this week, but we won't light them until Sunday--I promise. :)

I'm very much looking forward to this year's Advent and Christmas season. Our Lord has come to earth, He has come into our hearts, and He will come back again to make all things right.



fr francis