Our Crib is up! . . .

Yay! Our crib is out of it's wrappings and displayed in pride of place in our sitting room - all ready for the big day - or should I say the big night, as we always place the infant Jesus in the crib as soon as we get back from Midnight Mass.

We had a lovely Sunday again today. We enjoyed a delicious meal with friends last night in their home which was beautifully decorated for Christmas which really set the scene for us. This combined with the very seasonal weather and the fact that we'll all be together again shortly as a family really makes it a Super Sunday.

This morning's Mass was great with a very good homily and the children's nativity play at the end of Mass which is always guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye. We spent a relaxed afternoon decorating the tree and putting up a few decorations. I was going to say 'tasteful decorations' but then they're not really. We still tend to belong to the school of putting the same up things every year which have become part of our family tradition. When it comes to the tree, it's a case of 'pile it all on' with no regard for colour scheme, or any other scheme come to that!

Maybe one year, we'll have an adult tree with a tasteful theme which will be echoed in the other decorations but I've a feeling that day is quite a long way off.

Finally, Number One Son and I lit the fourth candle on our Advent wreath at 6pm and prayed the Angelus together - it doesn't get much better than this! God is very good!

The End of the Christmas Season

We took our crib down today as it's the end of the Christmas Season.

Our crib was given to us by my mother and so it has an extra special significance for us, apart from the obvious one.

Each year it comes down from the loft and the figures are carefully unwrapped from their protective scraps of cloth. We've been doing this since the children were small - quite a few years now - and they are still wrapped in a motley assortment of scraps of material; fake fur (? no idea where that would have come from in my mother's house!), felt oddments and old table napkins. I haven't the heart to exchange these oddments for bubble wrap or other protection - they are part and parcel of our family crib now.

Each year at the end of Christmas the same process is undertaken in reverse. I'm always reminded of the carol we used to sing at school, (Lullaby Carol?)

'... See the fur to keep you warm, snugly round your tiny form

Gosh, I didn't realise I could be so sentimental!

Christmas morn ...

The first thing we do when we get back from Midnight Mass is to place the infant Jesus carefully in our crib at home. Mark is generally the one to do this as he always remembers amidst all the chatter and excitement going on when we arrive home and goes straight to the place where the figure is kept until the 'big day'!

A Blessed and Happy Christmas to everyone!