Christmas Eve 2006

The last ornament goes onto the Advent Tree.
Christmas Eve!

This morning we went to church. Good and bad, as usual with this church. People were happier. We have a pastor. Last year we did not. And the congregation's joy at being led again is evident. Most were excited and friendly.

Afterwards, the kids Grace's age all hung out with eachother in little cliques, ignoring her as usual. She steeled herself to go up to some of them and try to engage with them. I watched out of the corner of my eye. It was painful to watch. Girl with complex social and communicative neurological disorder approaches happy, laughing, 'normal' teens. She edges up to the group nervously, hanging back slightly. They either do not notice her or can't be bothered to include her and move off together, leaving her standing alone. Later in the car, she cries. Secretly, so does her Mum.

She asks us, genuinely, if other people are afraid of her because she has ASD. We explain that no, they just are not very well socialised because they go to school. If they had been home-educated they would know better to make efforts to include other kids. Experience has taught me the truth of this.

We drive off for a last minute shop in the small supermarket in town. I had tried to avoid this, but I remembered with horror that I had not yet bought parsnips. I walk in at the fresh produce end of the store and gasp. Every shelf is empty! I run around the produce island searching frantically. No, it's true! A mass veggie-buying event has apparently occurred in this town and the shelves are bare! All except...wait a minute! Is that parsnips I spy? Yes, two women are hurriedly stuffing plastic bags with the precious vegetable! Not to be outdone, I buy far more than I need.

The Great Parsnip Panic of 2006. Generations to come will hear tell of it.

Home for latkes for a late lunch. They are part of our Christmas Eve traditions. We always have potato latkes for a meal, either breakfast, dinner or lunch, like today. Don't ask me why. I don't know. Rather conveniently, it usually, more or less, lines up with the end of Hannuka for which latkes are traditional. I think I picked up this tradition from my neighbours in Canada, but not sure why, as they weren't Jewish either. Maybe it's a Mittel Europa thing. Still, it's now a firm favourite for us. We serve them with a sharp apple sauce and sour cream.

We are usually finishing up our Advent book and Inductive Bible Study on Christmas Eve as a family. We light the candles on our advent wreath and get positively excited about anticipating our Saviour's birth tomorrow!

We have, every year (15 years now), given the children two gifts to unwrap on Christmas Eve. They always contain a book and a new pair of pyjamas. {g} I've done this since reading about it in Family Fun all those years ago. At least, I think I read about it there. The reasoning behind the pj's was so the kids could look reasonably respectable in the morning for photos! The book thing? They just love going to bed early and reading on Christmas Eve, even now! I wonder if, in 20 years, we will still be giving the kids their new pj's and books on Christmas Eve? {vbg}

Two traditions I've always WANTED to do (but as yet have not) are both part of French or French Canadian tradition. Tourtiere (from Quebec) is a lovely pie usually served as part of the Reveillon festivities. It is a meat pie flavoured with cinnamon. http://frenchfood.about.com/od/frenchcanadian/r/tourtierefrenet.htm
I'm going to have to figure out a vegetarian version one day.

And Les Treize Desserts is a Provencal tradition. I am DEFINITELY going to do that one year! But since the Treize Desserts are served AFTER Midnight Mass, I would have to only be doing it if I had no big commitments on Christmas day. {g}(BTW, we are not Roman Catholic, but Anglican and other churches here in the UK sometimes do the Midnight service thing on Christmas Eve.)http://frenchfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa122002a.htm

Another Christmas Eve tradition we have is that of listening to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings College Cambridge either on the radio or BBC TV. It always starts the same way, with a single chorister singing Once in Royal David's City in the candle-lit church. I love this as the narrations are purely God's Word. Readings from the Bible interspersed with carols. No fluff, no myths, no 'modern re-tellings', just God's trustworthy love-letter to us.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/advent/ninelessons.shtml
The service was first broadcast in 1928 and, with the exception of 1930, has been broadcast round the world annually, even during the Second World War, ever since. After the kids are in bed, Father Christmas will eat the mint spy left for him by the kids and take a carrot for the reindeer. Yes, they still do this! {g}

And later on tonight, there will be the Annual Late Night Wrapping Tradition as most of our gifts to the children are not yet wrapped. Fortunately, my bad back is worse than Jamie's bad back so he gets the pleasure of doing that.

While I peel the parsnips.

Merry Christmas!