TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

On Christmas eve quite a few members of our family attended the Children's Mass at Epiphany Church. It was a beautiful experience. The children had an active role in the Mass and the celebrant made the Mass appropriate for all ages but with the accent on the children. The priest is very exuberant and quite a showman but very devout and sincere. I have heard him speak before and his 'sermons' are so unique and creative that he captivates the entire audience. The church was packed beyond capacity so one glass side of the building was opened up and huge tents were assembled so that they abutted the church sanctuary. Chairs were set up out there for the overflow crowd. I may have been colder at sometime in my life but I could not recall when while sitting there with the bitter cold air flowing in and the tent walls bulging and my hands turning blue, then black and finally dead white. (And we were inside the church in the front row.) Nevertheless it was still an awe inspiring experience. After we left Mass we stumbled out on frozen feet and sought the respite of the warm car. Ahhhh! We proceeded to Kristin and Tim's house for a great meal.

During dinner the people at our end of the table got into a discussion about the absurdity of some of the offensive commercials on TV. We touched on most of the more outrageous ones and even mocked the messages that bombard us at every viewing. We even sang snatches of some of the songs now quite familiar to all. We discussed the person who feels compelled to tell us that she has 'just one body' and we talked of the two bathtubs in the woods and others. We ended up laughing so hard that we became almost raucous.

Our hostess, Kristin, facetiously asked if she needed to ask us to leave! We were a little over the top. Remember, these were prime time commercials that we were discussing. Meanwhile, out of the corner of my ear, I could hear snippets of the conversation going on at another table or part of the room. They were commenting on the three point BILLION dollars that just one group of Wall Street CEO's had received in salaries or end of year bonuses. Now that is what I call obscene.

We had a great time at our gathering though and I look forward to future good times with all of them. Happy New Year to all!! Shalom!