Three in the morning

It was no use trying to slip out of church quietly and unnoticed this morning. Of course the choir has known I was going for over a week, so there was no problem there, but after communion, the associate pastor (who'd been the celebrant at the 11) told the whole parish during announcements, made me stand up so they could see me, and then had them all applaud. Then I had to put up with all these people talking to me after Mass. I hate that! I have to kick myself and keep reminding myself to smile and nod and say thank you, and not flee and hide somewhere.

After dinner tonight, we went out to Rhema Bible College to walk around and look at their Christmas lights. I wanted to take a bunch of pictures, but I only got one....I think the camera batteries are dying.

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all!

It's been a lovely day. I got lots of nice presents and everyone seemed happy and in good humor today.

Midnight Mass went well last night. The music was not terribly original, but at least it was acceptable. The choral prelude included "Of the Father's Love Begotten" with handbells, an instrumental piece with string ensemble and oboe called "Gabriel's Oboe" by Ennio Moricone, Franz Biebl's "Ave Maria," the Harold Darke version of "In the Bleak Mid-Winter" (I prefer Gustav Holst's version), and Leontovich's "Carol of the Bells." During Mass we did Vittoria's "O Magnum Mysterium" for the offertory and John Rutter's "What Sweeter Music" for communion. One of the nicest things about not being Southern Baptist is that one of the priests gave me a bottle of champagne last night after Mass. Above is a picture of the church last night from the organ loft.

This morning I got to sleep in, since I didn't have to do the Christmas morning Mass for a change. It's getting late, so I should away to bed. Tomorrow is Boxing Day, so all the servants will be gone. ;-)

There's a pine cone on my tree

Bought the last of my Christmas presents today. I was going to wrap them tonight, but I discovered that Tony used up all the Scotch tape this afternoon and didn't replace the roll. Now I have to try to find some more. I was going to cave in and get him a present, but I haven't decided yet. I wanted to get him a new violin, but the one I like is $7,000, and that's not in the budget this year what with the move to Washington next week. He's making the argument for "Christmas is a secular holiday these days" just to get presents, and I find that argument (not just from him, but everybody else, too) to be rather offensive. Why don't the non-Christians secularize Hannukah? Then they could have eight days' worth of presents!

Bedtime

Heard a church's Messiah today. When I get old, I want all my friends to make a point to tell me when I'm no longer able to sing in public.

Public trees

As I worry about finishing Christmas cards and Christmas shopping this morning, I see all the news about the atheists who are objecting to municipal Christmas trees ("holiday" trees?). The blogs and newsgroups are full of angry Christians responding to that news. I'm always so amused when the Christians defend so vehemently the customs and traditions of those well-known tree worshippers, the Druids. Don't they know that during the Puritan period, Christmas trees were prohibited to Christians?

At the same time, when the non-Christians object to public displays of Christian nativity scenes, Jewish menorrahs, pagan Yule logs, and Druidic trees, why do they not object to having a free, paid holiday from work, which the federal, state, and local governments all call "Christmas Day"? No one sues to stop that.

My Tony is attempting to reject the Christianity of his upbringing, being the typical educated, liberal philosopher who finds all Christian mythology and tradition to be total bunk, and he's always asking me questions like "how can you profess to be intelligent and still go to church every week?" So, I've made a point to take him shopping with me while I buy expensive presents for all of my/our friends and family, and even though he's hinted not-so-subtly as to what he wants for Christmas (let no one say Tony has frugal tastes!), I've told him that since he's not a Christian, I'm not going to insult him by imposing my religious beliefs on him by giving him a Christmas present. I guess if he goes to Mass with me on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day (I want him to turn pages for me on Christmas morning, but he's not inclined to wake up that early!), I'll give him a present, but otherwise, I'm not going to force my religion on him.

Ho ho ho.

Sight reading

I was annoyed at church this morning. I usually slip in right after the offertory during the 9:30 Mass to play the last half of the service, allowing the organist/choirmaster to go rehearse the gallery choir in preparation for the 11:00 Mass. Well, this morning, I was just about to play the Agnus Dei and the organist came over with major handwritten changes to the accompaniment to accommodate the guitarist playing along. I always like sight reading manuscript and notation I can't read in front of 300 people.

Sunday

I hate contemporary Catholic music! I had to play contemporary trash hymns at the 9:30 yesterday, and the printed accompaniments made me feel like a frickin' cocktail lounge pianist. Where is the grace, the elegance, the musicality in modern Catholic worship? What's worse, the hymnal is so convoluted, the average parishioner can't follow the "new" hymns, so they just don't sing.

The 11 o'clock was better. We sang some anthem from Handel's Judas Maccabeus for the offertory and a strange little arrangement of the men singing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" against the women singing "Let All Mortal Flesh" for communion. Seems like we're getting a little "Emmanuel" overdose this Advent, since the Mass setting is all tunes taken from that hymn. Oh, well.