Putting up outdoor
lights the day after Thanksgiving weather permitting
Putting up lighted
greenery sway on balcony railing, also the day after Thanksgiving
Making Christmas
cookies starting with Oatmeal Strips (not a traditional Christmas cookie but
very rich and our personal favorite that is only made at Christmas time)
Putting up
miscellaneous Christmas decorations, including the wooden scrollwork pieces
from Barry's brother, Brad
Making more Christmas
cookies
Taping Christmas cards up on the wall as we receive them
Taping Christmas cards up on the wall as we receive them
Making Mother's Chex
Mix
Singing Christmas
carols at church
Making fruitcake with
dried cherries, dried cranberries and golden raisins
Starting to figure
out a gift list (my best ideas come late)
Thinking about
sending Christmas cards and Christmas e-cards
Getting a tree,
usually by my birthday
Putting the lights on
the tree (Barry)
Putting the ornaments
on the tree, unbreakable ones on the lower half and more fragile ones at the
top because of young grandkids and cats (Candy and Carrie)
Finalizing gift list
and ordering, shopping and sometimes making
Making more Christmas
cookies
Sending packages to Florida
and Colorado, usually right at
the deadline
Brother's dinner with
Barry's brothers and wives
Christmas Eve or
Christmas day with Ben, Sarah and kids
Opening stocking
gifts Christmas morning
Eating breakfast
Reading the Christmas
story as a family
Opening gifts to each
other
A quiet Christmas
evening
And two silly traditions that are all my own:
Listening to “Grandma
Got Run Over by A Reindeer” all the way through just once during the season
Watching “The
Preacher's Wife”
And one very dear to my heart tradition:
On Christmas Eve morning I
listen to a broadcast of the “Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from the
chapel of King's College, Cambridge.
The nine lessons come from Genesis, Isaiah, Luke, Matthew and John presenting
the arc of the gospel story from the fall of man to the coming of the Messiah.
Each lesson is accompanied by two carols sung by the choir and at times the
congregation. The service always begins with “Once in Royal David's City” as
the choir processes into the service. The first verse is sung acapella by one
boy. All the boys in the choir practice for that solo with the final selection
being made just before the processional begins. It is thrilling to listen live,
to hear that lone voice begin singing, to hear the Scriptures being read,
ending with the passage from John 1:1-14, “In the beginning was the WORD, and
the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. Praise be to God.
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