Italian Priest

I can finally enjoy Christmas. No more cleaning and cooking and fussing. It is over for the muggle born.  Do not get me wrong I love the frenzy of before Christmas. I love the action while it is happening but what I love most are the 12 days of Christmas that follow Christmas. No stress, no fuss. Relaxing, reflecting, knowing that most people are putting it behind them and back in its box and putting it out with the trash. Some will leave it all up until after January 1^st. A very few like me will leave it up until Epiphany. Even fewer will actually celebrate the visit of the Maji with gifts and the telling of the tale. Members of three Royal houses of Persia traveled many miles to greet a King and give him gifts that though strange and symbolic would provide the much needed income to safely keep Jesus and his family in Egypt.

We went to midnight Mass Christmas eve at a local Catholic Church. It is a tradition I have been doing for years. There is something very sacred and magical in the traditions of Christmas Mass at midnight. The ritual of the Mass that people hundreds of years ago did the same thing. You grow up with family members and traditions are adapted to include you and for years they exist and then family members pass on and the tradition changes and you adapt and new traditions are born and you do them every year and then family members pass on and again traditions change. Midnight Mass has not changed since I have been attending just the church I attend it in but then there is a great comfort in that too.

This one however, was different. I was gifted with a flask of Scotch early in the evening. I would take a wee sip now and then as the evening progressed. My favorite Shoe and J invited a lonely friend over to spend Christmas Eve with us and he was excited about attending Mass with us. So he arrived early evening and brought whiskey and beer. The merriment started. We loaded into the car and some of the occupants lit up cigarettes. We rolled up into church smelling of beer, whiskey and cigarettes. Not how I had envisioned this. Well we were there. I do not think the lady sitting behind us was very impressed with our Irish pub scented arrival…or feeling tolerant GOD bless her. Now she was either cursing us or praying for us. Shoe thought it sounded like cursing I was thinking it could have been more like “Oh Lord help these sinful people”. Either way lady it was Christmas and GOD bless us …Everyone…even you. Perhaps I should have introduced myself to her as Lady Tamara www.LairdOfLochaber.com    and she could have excused it as we were part of some crazy aristocracy from New England, New Jersey of Rhode Island. It would have seemed OK had the priest been Irish but he was Italian and the entire experience turned freakishly surreal. Suddenly we were transported to Romania and I had the sudden urge to search out who in the audience was a Vampire. In all my years of Mass it had always been spoken by an English speaking priest. The sanctuary was packed and he was very warm and welcoming to the parish members as well as guests. It was lovely.

I had asked a daughter to bring eggs and cucumbers because I needed them for Christmas dinner. I prepped dinner on Christmas Eve so I needed them sooner than Christmas day and I had not heard back from my daughter as to whether she got my message or not so I asked another daughter who arrived on Friday to get them. So…. Does anyone have any idea what I can do with eggs and cucumbers?