Respect His Holy Name

One of my favourite songs from White Christmas is "Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep".  Maybe because I don't prayerfully thank Jesus for all of my blessings as often as I should.  The best gift I received this season wasn't even material.  That doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the many useful and/or spiffy-cool material gifts I have received.  I don't think I got a bad gift this year, which I can't honestly say about every year. 

Christmas celebrations started early this year.  On Friday, our Doctor Who group gathered to watch the back-to-back two-part season finale.  Despite no prior notification, several of us had gifts ready for each other.  Da was in town, down from Tucson, and didn't miss out on the action.  On Saturday, Steve was down from Vegas.  So he and Wayne showed up for a small social gathering instead of our usual Dark Sun campaign.  Several of us also had gifts ready for each other, despiate no prior notification as well.  It's humourous how groups of friends can be similar yet different.

Yesterday my maternal grandfather, mother, and I attended Christmas Eve mass at St. Raphael.  They had a new icon of St. Raphael behind the altar, so between that and the tapestry which dates back to when my biological parents and I were still parishoners, there are two totally different representations of St. Raphael in the church building now.  The tapestry used to be behind the altar, but was moved by the previous pastor who felt a crusafix belonged there.  Now the crusafix hangs above the altar with the new icon on the wall behind.  The tapestry remains where is was moved years ago, behind the choir.  It's been interesting to watch the parish change in small and big ways over the years. 

Father Milt was the presider.  Because he works at both my grandparents' parish and my parish, it's like he's the family priest.  I know he's the favourite of my mother and grandmother.  I know I don't believe in having favourites, but he is certainly the priest who connects with parishoners the most of any I've ever seen.  I'm sure if I ever contemplated marriage my family would want him to preside over the sacrament.  He asked about my grandmother, and spoke to each of us before mass.  That made Grandma happy when she heard that.

After mass, my grandparents hosted a small little gift exchange and light supper with my parents and I.  For the first time in memory, we did our gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Morn.  Today we returned, as my mother and I cooked dinner for the five of us.  Everything went well, although my grandmother seemed annoyed with herself in how little she could eat and how tired she was.  She's not very patient with the effects of the chemo. 

So as I look back, I see that I am blessed with wonderful friends and family who love one another very much.  What more could a man want?  Thank you, Lord.

It's not the best of Star Wars quizes, but I thought it serendipitous that I had received a MR mini-replica of Obi-Wan's blade as one of my Christmas gifts and here I am quized out as Obi-Wan:

Male Jedi You scored 0% Dark side, 85% Light side, 63% Male, and 0% Female!

hmm.... strong powers of light in you, I sense.

"You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love." ~Harry Drummond