vividreports: Christmas report

Here we are three days after Christmas! The last few days have sped by, but they have been quite lovely and all has gone well. Sunday morning we went to the Guilford Church, and it was Pageant Sunday. The pageant is quite spectacular at Guilford - mainly because of very handsome animal heads that are worn in procession. It's a "wow!" moment. Also people of all ages are in the pageant from a few months old (Baby Jesus) to elders in their 80's and even 90's, and everything in between. It also integrates many of our members that have disabilities. That makes it special. Ellen also brought many plates of cookies for carolers to take to shut-ins, but we ourselves didn't go caroling. Just too much.

The rest of Sunday was quiet. Spelling Bee, sitting by the fire, listening to Says You and All the Traditions on NPR.

Monday we went out and actually found a Christmas tree. Some places were sold out. But at Allen Brother's nursery we found one - not perfect but still nice. I got it up and put on the lights. Jim and Mary arrived around 5pm and we had supper together. I also spent some time finishing my gift to Savanna, whose name I was given in the Tolles Family gift drawing.

Tuesday was Christmas Eve Day. I had rehearsed the choir the previous Friday. What I mainly did was go visiting - I visited five people/homes in the afternoon. Shut-ins, etc. Ellen went to the movies and Jim and Mary took in Brattleboro. Everyone I visited was very glad for the visit, not least because I brought each one a plate of Ellen's cookies!

Tuesday evening was Christmas Eve, and I led the choir in Dummerston at 7pm, we came home for a quick snack and then went to Guilford for a 9:30 choir rehearsal (led by Andy Davis) for an 11pm service. Both services were very nice and Jim sang in the choir at both and said he really liked the music at both.

Christmas Day we all went to Katie and Savanna's for a gathering of the Tolles/Feinland families, 16 in all. It was noisy but fun. We draw names for gifts and I had drawn Savanna. I decided to make her one of my signature "Christmas Fantasy House" origami paper montages - the fifth one I have made. I was happy with it, and I think Savanna loved it. This gathering has traditions: it always includes singing from the Tolles Family Christmas Book, it always includes MadLibs, Christmas "crackers" at the table, tourtière (a French-Canadian pork pie which is delicious) and plum pudding for dessert (made by Ellen). It was a full day and enjoyable. It also is a lot of work for Katie and Savanna and after everyone had left, we talked with them about these traditions and whether they could make changes that would make it less exhausting for them.

Thursday we had a quiet morning at home, and I did some last-minute wrapping for John and Cynthia, and then we went to their house for a late afternoon/evening supper and Christmas. Very peaceful by contrast. That was very nice. They have made significant changes in their living-room with a new stove and a new couch. it looked very elegant but also very cozy. Their tree was a white pine off their land - but unusually bushy for a white pine.

Friday was an open, quiet day. Ahh! I worked on my annual Christmas letter and making cards (I save old Christmas cards and make new ones from them).

Today we went to the Revels in Cambridge, MA - an annual event. This was a very good one - set in America in 1933 - the year I was born - in the Depression. A lot of songs about poverty and hard times. It made me wonder about my first Christmas - when I was 9 months old. We were very poor - dad was a student in seminary and his student church in Big Rock, IL was so devastated they could not even pay him his $600 annual salary. I wonder if we even had a tree?

Here are some photos from the week:


Animals at the Guilford Church Pageant

The "Christmas Fantasy House" montage I made for Savanna (their house decked out for Christmas)

John and Cynthia's white pine Christmas tree

Our tree

Savanna has a Christmas display of houses we made years ago - I think Ellen made the one second from left and I made the one on the right (it's a train station).