Christmas Eve has always been my absolute favorite day of the year. It has always held magic for me from the time I was a little girl, and dreamed of what Santa would bring, right up until now.
The strange part of the magic for me, though, wasn't always Santa. Thinking back on my childhood, and remembering what it was about that night that holds so much magic, there are two things that immediately come to mind, neither of the them are Santa or presents.
The first thing that holds a very special place in my heart on Christmas Eve is the candle-lit singing of Silent Night. As a child growing up in a Lutheran church where many of the members still spoke German, it was a magical time at the end of the service when the lights went down, the candles were lit, and the congregation began to sing, in German. Although I never learned much of the language other than the words to O Tannunbaum one year for the Christmas pagent, there is something about those moments on Christmas Eve, in the dark that fill me with wonder and joy. In our big church, filled to overflowing, with people crammed in like sardines there was always a stillness and a silence when it came time to light the candles for this particular song. To this day, I am moved to tears and can't sing it.
The second thing that is always magical for me on that very special night is the Christmas snow. It seems that there are very few years that it doesn't snow on Christmas Eve, and that snow is always different some how. It's still and silent, and beautiful, more so than at any other time.
This year, there is a new memory for me. This year, I had the opportunity to serve during the Christmas Eve service. What a joy and a priviledge to do that! It was only the third time I have ever worn an alb, and it was such a thrill! I was able to be part of the processional, carrying the Gospel book, and was able to assist in other ways during the service. This all may seem a little mundane to those who have done it before, but to have Christmas Eve be the very first time you serve - WOW!
Standing in front of the congregation was an amazing experience. It left me wanting to do more, not only holding a book, or turning pages, or helping to set the communion table, but to be more of a part it all. I felt at home and comfortable, once I stopped shaking, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the service.
I have to admit, I was terribly nervous, I thought everyone could hear my knees banging together, and was terrified I would drop my candle, but it went well, and at the end, I felt so grateful to have been included, I felt so energized and wound up, I didn't sleep for many hours, not in anticipation of Santa and gifts, but with the gift that I had been already given. I was given an opportunity to 'try it out'. A small chance to see what my future Christmas Eves would look like. I thought that I would be unsure of taking this on, of turning in my family time for gowns, inscense, candles and a church full of strangers, but standing at the front, looking at all those strangers, all of a sudden, they weren't really strangers, they were all members of the family of Christ. They were my family. I won't be trading family time at all. I will be spending time with a bigger family than I could have imagined.
I am looking forward to the many oppportunities that are ahead this year and in the coming years to serve God, and His people.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Christmas Holidays!?
Well folks, it's been many weeks (as I have recently been reminded!) since I last posted something. To start this posting then, I appologize for the lapse in my updates. It is with good reason and great results however. Since it's been a while, this posting will be rather lengthy, so grab a cup of something and get comfy!
With November usually comes snow flurries but this November,in my life, came a flurry of a different sort - papers. After making it through to Thanksgiving, my focus shifted to making it through to Christmas. I can report that we all survived the pre-Christmas hussle and exam period with our health if missing a little sanity.
I spent a good lot of November researching early Celtic Christianity and fighting to come up with a decent thesis that didn't appear to be somthing from my kids grade 5 public speaking assignment. Settling on this topic was easy, trying to learn about it, and narrow the focus to a small enough area was a whole other story!
I moved from a focus of a 6 week block of time to a one day at a time approach. Every morning I would get up, get the kids organized for the day, and say to myself.. 'one day closer to holidays'. That worked for a while, but then even that stressed me out as I realized that I was one day closer to Christmas and I hadn't even thought about preparing for that!
The end of November brings on Mike's crazy busy season, so balancing life at home, school assignments, holiday parties, and sleep became a very delicate juggling act! Fortunately for me, Mike (being the great guy he is) rarely complained or resented (at least outwardly) my rants and foot stamping about how much work I had, and how little time there was to prepare for the holidays. I began to feel like a terrible parent, not doing the usual stuff with the kids, like baking, tree trimming and general holiday fun. I also found that I became slightly grumpy at the fact that I was unable to attend the holiday social events because I had so much to do for school, there was no time for merriment, and when there was time in my schedule, Mike's didn't permit it.
All that said, we did make it through finals, and papers, and tear out, and we're still together and both alive, so I take that to be a testament to the stability of our relationship. (I think I am WAY more blessed that he - lucky me!)
The holidays came, and the kids were happy and we did manage to spend time together for 4 whole days (after which I became very anxious to get back to school!)
There were 2 highlights for this Christmas season for me, other than the usual time with my family and those 2 things were Christmas Eve, and finding my grades. I will post a separate blog about Christmas Eve later, but in this one, I want to take the opportunity to talk about my grades.
All the time spent studying and reseaching, and pounding my head on the keyboard paid off. I am still awaiting 1 final mark, but the other 4 were great - at least by my standards.
My lowest mark was a miracle in and of itself. Biblical Studies was a great challenge. I often felt that I had less knowledge on the background stuff than the other students. I learned that many of them knew what they did from other classes they had taken. So I was a little behind in the terminology and such so that showed in my exams. Neither one of them were anything to write home about. I really counted on my final paper being well done and pulling up my mark. It was, and it did and I finished the class with a respectable 75%.
The next challenge was History. I have never been a lover of history, however, Dr. Acres is one of those profs who are witty and engaging. He was able to take the dates and places out of the boring average history and replace them with events and people and turned history into a more social experience that I rather enjoyed. Final mark in History - 80%!
Field Education was the least challenging in the way of academics, however, it did prove to have it's own type of challenge - namely getting something out of the eewy geewy reflective stuff. Turns out that honesty an being aware of what you are feeling and why is a great asset in this class and I finished with an 84%.
Now I know that you are all dying to know about Hebrew. I have to tell you honestly I am so thrilled that I did choose it. It was interesting, and Prof. Hamilton was a fantastic instructor. He was great at helping me to excel in the way that I learn and I ended up very proudly with an 83%.
All in all, great marks for Christmas turned out to be a great gift!
I am looking forward to Tuesday when it all starts up again and I get another chance to prove that with God, all things are possible!
With November usually comes snow flurries but this November,in my life, came a flurry of a different sort - papers. After making it through to Thanksgiving, my focus shifted to making it through to Christmas. I can report that we all survived the pre-Christmas hussle and exam period with our health if missing a little sanity.
I spent a good lot of November researching early Celtic Christianity and fighting to come up with a decent thesis that didn't appear to be somthing from my kids grade 5 public speaking assignment. Settling on this topic was easy, trying to learn about it, and narrow the focus to a small enough area was a whole other story!
I moved from a focus of a 6 week block of time to a one day at a time approach. Every morning I would get up, get the kids organized for the day, and say to myself.. 'one day closer to holidays'. That worked for a while, but then even that stressed me out as I realized that I was one day closer to Christmas and I hadn't even thought about preparing for that!
The end of November brings on Mike's crazy busy season, so balancing life at home, school assignments, holiday parties, and sleep became a very delicate juggling act! Fortunately for me, Mike (being the great guy he is) rarely complained or resented (at least outwardly) my rants and foot stamping about how much work I had, and how little time there was to prepare for the holidays. I began to feel like a terrible parent, not doing the usual stuff with the kids, like baking, tree trimming and general holiday fun. I also found that I became slightly grumpy at the fact that I was unable to attend the holiday social events because I had so much to do for school, there was no time for merriment, and when there was time in my schedule, Mike's didn't permit it.
All that said, we did make it through finals, and papers, and tear out, and we're still together and both alive, so I take that to be a testament to the stability of our relationship. (I think I am WAY more blessed that he - lucky me!)
The holidays came, and the kids were happy and we did manage to spend time together for 4 whole days (after which I became very anxious to get back to school!)
There were 2 highlights for this Christmas season for me, other than the usual time with my family and those 2 things were Christmas Eve, and finding my grades. I will post a separate blog about Christmas Eve later, but in this one, I want to take the opportunity to talk about my grades.
All the time spent studying and reseaching, and pounding my head on the keyboard paid off. I am still awaiting 1 final mark, but the other 4 were great - at least by my standards.
My lowest mark was a miracle in and of itself. Biblical Studies was a great challenge. I often felt that I had less knowledge on the background stuff than the other students. I learned that many of them knew what they did from other classes they had taken. So I was a little behind in the terminology and such so that showed in my exams. Neither one of them were anything to write home about. I really counted on my final paper being well done and pulling up my mark. It was, and it did and I finished the class with a respectable 75%.
The next challenge was History. I have never been a lover of history, however, Dr. Acres is one of those profs who are witty and engaging. He was able to take the dates and places out of the boring average history and replace them with events and people and turned history into a more social experience that I rather enjoyed. Final mark in History - 80%!
Field Education was the least challenging in the way of academics, however, it did prove to have it's own type of challenge - namely getting something out of the eewy geewy reflective stuff. Turns out that honesty an being aware of what you are feeling and why is a great asset in this class and I finished with an 84%.
Now I know that you are all dying to know about Hebrew. I have to tell you honestly I am so thrilled that I did choose it. It was interesting, and Prof. Hamilton was a fantastic instructor. He was great at helping me to excel in the way that I learn and I ended up very proudly with an 83%.
All in all, great marks for Christmas turned out to be a great gift!
I am looking forward to Tuesday when it all starts up again and I get another chance to prove that with God, all things are possible!
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