Church

Tonight was the fourth meal this week.  They have all been good.  If I were to rate them, I would surely get in to trouble!!

Was it the chicken cordon bleu?  Or the Japanese cuisine?  Or the marvelous casserole with pickled beets?  Or maybe — just maybe — it was my favourite, hot dogs!!

Each meal has had its theme, and all bring me back to Christmas.  The small group who are working through a study together, the seniors who enjoy and cherish the traditions of Christmas, the Grades 5-7 who just enjoy life and birthdays, and the high school students who caught a glimpse of another culture’s approach to Christmas.

Here is the eager crowd for tonight’s gathering — a Japanese dinner seated on the floor and using chop sticks.  I have a new appreciation for knees and wooden dowels!

Planning for Christmas Eve day has been interesting.

By interesting, I mean a bit wierd feeling.

Over the years I have been a part of planning for the night before Christmas.  I have files of services that I have helped plan.  Literally hundreds of songs have been sung and played, along with scriptures and stories read.

This year the service will be held in the morning.  Sunshine will be streaming in the windows of the church.  Where a lit candle would seem to illuminate all of the area, the sunshine will still be out (OK, maybe clouds will be the touch of the day).

My internal clock will feel just a little off.

But, the core of the day will still remain the same.  Jesus, whose life was spent mostly in Nazareth, was born a baby.  He lived as a man — but yet was God with other men and women.  His death was more than just another spirit departing.  And his resurrection was death defying and life giving.  Not a bad start for a celebration of Christmas.

So, our boarder who came for a few weeks and will have been here two months, found a house!  A private sale, close to work and school.  They (his wife Annette and their three children) will move down the end of December.  The new year will see them enjoying the delights of Kindersley!

For the last few months John has been checking our realty listings as often as possible.  He has explored local hamlets and villages.  His car can find roads that others haven’t seen for a while.

These listings have been complemented by private listings that are kept in the heads of friends, colleagues, and anyone else who might be helpful.  In the end the network paid off!

Now, what if our lives were made up of listings?  Lists of things to do, places to go, people to see.

Guess what, I am affected by lists.  I’ve yet to be persuaded that we are “list”less people. 

The real matter, then, is — what lists are we going to follow? 

I tend to think that we need to be listing to the right!

And for all you boat people — the ship is not going to sink!  If you can keep you life on an even keel, your list will be just right!

Have you noticed?

Christmas cards are predominately being delivered by email!  We still have some cards arriving brimming with the update for the past year.  Usually we would have had two strings of cards already on our wall.

This year I think I count three cards.

As with any transition, there are certain traditions it is hard to leave behind.  I enjoyed the color of the Christmas card strings.  I appreciated the people who took time to write.  I never tired of the sagas that unfold in the yearly update.

Oh, the updates are still there, and people do take time to write.  But, for all my forays into the technological age (and I do love computers and gadgets), I still miss the tangible feel of card stock.  I miss the handwritten signatures and the little P.S.’s at the end of the photocopied letter. 

I still remember a remark made when I was taking my Master of Library Science.  “Paper will never be replaced.”  I’m not so sure that is true, but I understand the sentiment.  I still want to hold those paper packages.  I haven’t yet figured out how to hold onto bits and bytes of digital input!!