Happy Boxing Day!

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and all of us are still alive. That’s a pretty good sign, all things considered.

Of course, the media have given much attention this year to the logistical headaches created by the occurrence of Christmas Day on Sunday. Many conservative, evangelical “megachurches” (I prefer the term “Church Depots” myself) have taken heat this year for canceling Sunday services on Christmas due to expected low attendance. More traditional churches (and some less traditional ones, as well as other Church Depots) have no such intention. Certainly the two churches we attend have none.

Mass on Christmas is traditional if you’re Catholic, regardless of what day of the week it is. Most other Christian denominations celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve. So here’s how it worked out for us:

Christmas Eve (Saturday, December 24)
5:00 - 6:30 PM: Christmas Eve candlelight service, Brian’s church (Brian and Anya)
7:00 - 8:30 PM: Christmas Eve candlelight service, Kim’s church (Kim, Brian, and Anya)

Christmas Day (Sunday, December 25)
10:00 - 11:30 AM: Sunday service, Brian’s church (Brian)
10:30 AM - 12:00 noon: Sunday service, Kim’s church (Kim and Anya)

So while some of the more conservative folks debated whether it was appropriate to hold church on Christmas morning, our family—a bunch of tree-hugging liberals if ever there was one—ended up with more church than we knew what to do with. Funny, in an ironic sort of way.

It actually made Christmas fun and lent a nice sense of balance, as well as staving off the usual afternoon letdown somewhat. But it’s a good thing for me that I got Boxing Day off this year.

... And I'm back.

It’s been a lovely three weeks, attempting to diagnose and then correct a problem in which playing an audio CD crashed my computer and did damage to the hard drive. One CD-drive swap and operating-system reinstallation later, everything seems fine, but all of my computer's configuration (including my user account name and password for this blog!) was destroyed.
We've had the same cold air that much of the rest of the country has had during that time. We didn’t get the worst of it, of course, but enough to make it unusually Christmassy, with the whole Skykomish Valley white with frost in the mornings. (Most Christmases here are overcast and soggy.)
Sultan Claus -- the volunteer Santa at the volunteer fire station -- made his annual visit last week. With his real Santa beard (and how does he stay incognito the rest of the year, pray tell?) and his excellent lapside manner, he’s a natural.
The house and the car are full of Christmas carols, pretty much all the time. Astonishing for a house full of Godless liberals, but there it is ...