[Magdalen] Christmas Day

[Jay Weigel]

Quiet day here for us too. We just finished a brunch of coconut blueberry
pancakes with bacon (Christmas being a "free day" for us) after opening
presents. I received lovely presents from my sweet S/O, including some
genealogy-oriented books *and* a DNA test kit from Family Tree, which is
supposed to be the best one out there, plus Yotam Ottolenghi's "Jerusalem
Cookbook" which I have been coveting for some time.

Also opened my listgiv, which is a wonderful book of recipes called "Olives
& Oranges", a compendium from the Mediterranean area including Cyprus.
Thank you, Kate Conant! I will be reading recipes this afternoon and trying
hard not to drool on the books.

My listgiv will be on its way Monday as the P.O. is apparently closed
tomorrow. :-(  It goes to the northeast but not *too* far.

Jay, full of pancakes and Christmas spirit



On Friday, December 25, 2015, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> A quiet day for me.  Lovely.  Thoughtful gifts to enjoy, including an
> Orthodox-looking vigil light for my prayer corner, a cross and votive
> candle from St Peter's Cathedral, Salzburg, and, totally unexpected, a pair
> of shiny red gloves (that match my red shoes and boots) from one of our
> marginalized parishioners.   She's always knitting and I thought it'll be a
> washcloth or something.  Oh tears!
>
> Last night's service went as well as we could make it, but, geez, our
> P-i-C has the liturgical sense of a turnip and will not be moved.  Who else
> would refuse to wear a cope on these occasions? So when we accompany him
> around the altar when he censes it at the start, there is no reason for us
> to traipse around with him, although we do, fufilling the now-nominal roles
> of deacon and sub-deacon.  When will he dispense with our services
> altogether, I wonder?  Who else refuses to stand behind the altar  when he
> should be there?  Or is rooted there when he should be elsewhere?  He
> wouldn't let me bring the book in procession to the creche for him to read
> from.  It's all too 'fancy' for him, he said, happy to do it from his
> bulletin.  But what about us??????? We are an Anglo-Catholic parish, much
> as he would deny it.   His homily was blessedly short and as dull as ever.
>  It would be a blessing to him and to us if he could allow the mystery to
> enfold him and feed his senses and fire his imagination.  Aaaargh!
>
> My son and his partner are coming tomorrow for a couple of days, so I've
> got stuff to do around here to ready the spare room.  Nice. And I've got
> this Sunday off.  Yippee!
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>
>
>