December 25, 2006
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Merry Christmas
I’m sitting here in a fug of Chanel No. 5 (Yes, I do smell entirely yummy, and I intend to have a Monroe-esque experiment tonight), to wish you a Merry Christmas.
And I do hope your Midnight Mass was less disappointing than ours. We went to a new church, and they’d changed the words to every single carol (it was a book called ‘hymns for modern churches’), so the Shepherds in Silent Night did not quake, they quailed…. and there was a distinct lack of ‘ye’s and even ‘Once in Royal’ had been altered in the last verse. The vicar invited us to stand for each carol (as opposed to, us, say, rolling around in the aisles, or perhaps dancing on the padded seats), and there were heaps of asides. We do not need to be told, if given chapter and verse, what page of the Bible to look on, to follow the reading. In a printed service leaflet, it is not necessary to tell us to go to page 10, if we were on page nine. The vicar was alternately condescending and snide, the music was abysmal (I’ve been to five different churches, regularly, in my life, and not come across music which was quite so bad before, so I don’t think that my previous churches were out of the ordinary). Next year we’ll find somewhere that uses Hymns Ancient and Modern. You know where you are with that. Or maybe ye know…. Even my Mother admitted that it was somewhat strange.
I am, however, profoundly grateful that this year, when we got to ‘The Peace’, Mum and Dad joined in happily. Life is good.
And I was phoned from Geneva today. Which makes me all-over-smiles (and sucks to anyone who tells me not to dream, hope, and enjoy).
xxx
Comments (4)
wow a call from far away is always nice.
Merry Christmas and Happy New year to you!
Glad you got a good phone call! And… weird about the hymns. Some things just oughtn’t be changed… xmas carol for sure.
I ended up at Midnight Mass at the cathedral in Milwaukee after discovering that my old parish changed from a midnight mass to a 10:00pm mass. It was quite lovely–pipe organ, small orchestra, full choir and the archbishop presiding. It was sure a different experience after 30 some years of midnight mass in my home parish where the music is quite “primitive” and I usually have to help out the choir.
Hope your having a good between holidays week.
Sucks to the church for not being properly traditional – and (as far as I’m concerned) you can keep dreaming, hoping and enjoying for as long as you want.
L xx