Christmas Day Retrospective

The long promised rain has arrived.  I don't mind.  We don't have outdoor plans, and our autumn has been a bit dry.  We live in a forested area, so I'm always happy when our wildfire risk, which is already low in times of normal rain, diminishes further.

I don't have a unified blog post in mind, so let me record some fragments from Christmas Day I want to preserve.

--Yesterday we joined the livestream of the Christmas Day concert at the National Cathedral in D.C.  Wow!  What a beautiful service!

--As I watched, I felt a bit nostalgic, thinking back to my seminary apartment days when I would walk to the Cathedral.  The place feels familiar to me, as do the faces of the female priests.

--We also watched the Christmas Day service that our Florida church pastor put together.  I love that it's a bunch of pieces of video--some of us are reading the Christmas Bible texts, while others of us are doing something musical.  I like that this process gets so many parishioners and former parishioners involved.  Most of us now have recording capacity with our cell phones, so all ages can be involved.  It's something I want to remember in later years, something that could get involvement in various settings.

--Yesterday afternoon, I made one more batch of Christmas cookies, my favorite recipe for sugar cookies that aren't too sweet.  I don't make them often because they require rolling out and cutting with cookie cutters.  When my spouse woke up from his nap, we decorated them.

--Sprinkles are so much like glitter, in that it gets absolutely everywhere.  Still, I'm not going to squash that joy.

--This batch of cookies puffed up and spread out more than other batches I've made.  With one tray, I let them rest in the oven, and they shrank a bit.  It was odd.

--We watched A Muppet Christmas Carol last night.  What a treat!  Later, I made this Facebook post:  

"We went from watching the Muppets version of "A Christmas Carol" to the Veggie Tales version of the Nativity, and I expect to have strange dreams tonight."

--I made several Facebook posts each day over the last two days.  I find myself trying to guess which of my Facebook friends will like which posts.  It's like trying to second guess the mysterious algorithm.  

--Some years, I have a spell of Christmas Day depression during part of the day; there are any number of ways I might feel depressed.  But yesterday, I had no depression.  A bit of irritation over the slow pace of our Christmas meal prep once it was in the oven, but no depression.

--All in all, it's been a good holiday, the whole season--and the autumn season that came before it.  I know how lucky I am, and how few people across the globe have this kind of good fortune.