On the 5th day of Christmas I sat down to blog

Christmas has been great so far. I am in such a good mood and it's been no stress at all. I did most of my cooking on Christmas Eve and put it all in the fridge. The turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, rolls and mashed potatoes were prepared at the last minute on Christmas Day. Rocky loved the hot and spicy string beans I did this year and everybody was crazy about the double chocolate cake.

Mass on Christmas Eve was lovely, simple and sweet. Fr. Theoden looked very happy to see us--- what a good man. Despite the size of his parish he manages to say and remember something about all of us. Fr. Aragorn was jollier than usual.

For Christmas Day Mass we had five altar boys and a delightful seminarian. The church organist played the new carillion and mercifully the cantor toned it down and sang a Kyrie and Glory to God that you didn't need years of vocal training to actually follow. Traditional hyms and carols were sung. The church was decorated beautifully and the creche was displayed in Mary's chapel. My mama, who is not Catholic was favorably impressed and that is saying something.

I didn't decorate until Christmas Eve and decided that I absolutely had to have a white tree this year so I hopped on the bus, marched over to Sears and bought one. It's pre-lit and the branches are hinged on. Oh yes, yes, yes! I cought a cab home and had the tree decorated in record speed. The tree, along with my new living room curtains and two coats of wax on the floor made the living room look pretty good. Rocky doesn't care about decorating (thank God) but his eyes lit up when he came through the front door from work. I wish I'd had a camera ready.

May your octave of Christmas be beautiful.