The whole of advent slipped away and here we are: Christmas eve. It was a very short advent this year, as today is also the fourth Sunday of Advent. We no sooner blew out the fourth candle on our wreath than we began planning Christmas eve.
As Catholics, we celebrate every single Sunday as a Holy Day, which means we go to mass. Christmas is of course, also a holy day, which includes mass. The incarnation of God is not an event we take lightly; Christmas day is when the world changed for the better. It was the beginning of the long climb back after the fall.
Long story short: there's an overlap this year and lots of talk about how to fit everything in, since we have two holy days requiring mass in a row. I know lots of folks enjoy killing two birds with one stone but strictly speaking, that doesn't count. You can do Saturday evening mass for Sunday and Monday mass for Christmas; that's pretty easy. Or you can do Sunday mass and then Christmas mass. That's easy, too. My kids all wanted to join us down at the Basilica (one of the most beautiful churches anywhere) at the Christmas eve children's vigil, which is this afternoon. Then we'll all caravan out to Tom's place where the Pivec clan is celebrating Christmas Eve together.
No problem! Except my Mom threw a Christmas party for the Hubbell clan last night, which began at 4, which meant Saturday evening mass was off the table for us. Mass twice in one day is alot. Jay got up early and hit the 9:30 mass. I solved my dilemma by going to Sunday mass with my mom at the senior living facility, where the priest comes in on Thursday to celebrate mass with all the old folks who don't drive and can't make it to mass on Sunday. I cleared that with my priest before hand, so I'm good. I'm not sure God cares when we go to church but I figured I can use all the extra credit I can rack up.
Once I'd set my mass schedule I was free to enjoy the non stop parties! Here it is, Christmas Eve morning and I've already been to two slammin' shindigs!
My mom's first cousin Bill, has been hosting a huge family Christmas party for decades. Bill is one of six kids and his mother was one of nine sisters. My own grandma (mom's mom) was one of the nine sisters. Over 50 years ago, Bill and his wife began hosting these yule tide family reunions and it's frequently the only time of the year that I see many of those kinfolk, so it's a very fun time. The venue has changed several times over the decades and branches of the family just keep expanding. Those of us who were little kids storming the buffet table back in the early days are now showing off our grandkids and introducing them to their third (and fourth!) cousins.
One of the ways in which this annual event has changed is that it is now a brunch affair. Bill (now 96 or 97 years old) is still the host. He, his sister Judy and my Mom are the last of their generation left and it's wonderful when they can get together. Brunch is a terrific time to throw an enormous party and most years this one occurs the week before Christmas but thanks to the abbreviated advent, it was the 23rd, which was also the day my mom planned her own family affair.
I picked Mom up in the morning and we met my son Zach, at the venue. There, we had a swell time touching base with the extended family, showed off pictures of our newest family members, had a big delicious brunch and joined in a family photo that must have included 100 people. We stayed for two hours, then had to head back home to check on the ham Mom had popped in the oven for the party at her place.
I had time to run home and pack up the food I was bringing to Mom's. Jay had spent the morning cooking 10lbs of chicken wings, which he boxed up for the party and I packed a tray willed with Christmas cookies. An hour later, I was back at Mom's helping to set up the party room. An hour after that, 50 of my Mom's favorite people were whoopin' it up at the waters. We had more food than we could eat (and we can eat a lot), the football game was (muted) on the big screen TV and all the great grand kids were tearing around the place like they owned it. We toasted the newly engaged Alex and Rob! A handful of us were missing: some were out sick, some were visiting other grandparents and some had to work. None of the out of staters are coming into town this year. All were missed.
The party wound down around 8 p.m. We all helped clean up, put all the furniture back where it belonged and divvied up the leftovers for parties over the next two days. I was home by 9, in my jammies by 9:05 and watched The Man Who Invented Christmas. Then Jay and I watched the first half of George C. Scott's version of A Christmas Carol. By midnight, we couldn't keep our eyes open, so we bid the Ghost of Christmas Present good night and hit the hay.
Gotta get a good night sleep to make it through the marathon of Christmas Cheer we've got on our schedules!
Have a very merry and blessed Christmas Eve!