Christmas Eve

It really doesn't LOOK like a traditional Christmas Eve around here. The sky is blue -- but beginning to darken as evening falls. The luminaria are out -- we only got 30, which is comfortably enough for the front walk, but not the side walk. So he is out moving a few from the front so it goes a bit farther down the side of the house.

Luminaria are a Big Deal in our immediate neighborhood. All up and down our street running north & south you can see them. Sort of an unspoken Christmas Eve decorating "rule." Today being Sunday and a warmish sort of day for Chicagoland, folks were getting the brown bags, sand & candles out and ready shortly after church.

Assuming, of course, they went to church.

This is the first Christmas Eve in quite possibly forever that we've been home alone. Since we did our big Christmas celebration last week -- the one tomorrow will be just Bob, Tim and me. And tonight, Tim is working -- so we are headed up to Weber Grill to have dinner....have made reservations, and told them it must be with Tim. Fun to have him serve us -- as I will be serving him dinner tomorrow!!

He'll get off around 8:30 or so -- plenty of time to come home and get ready for our 11:00 Christmas Eve candlelight service which includes all the pastors dressed in robes, reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 -- the only time the King James Version of the Bible is used in our church -- and ending with the congregation singing Silent Night as candles are lit from person to person in the darkened sanctuary.

Tonight will be a bittersweet service -- it is our senior pastor's last. After 27 years he is retiring -- well, retiring from being a pastor, though we are quite sure he will be more than busy. He'll be moving to Spokane next month and will be busy writing, traveling, and teaching.

Since we got our jammies from the elves last week, we'll come home and have a cup of tea in our regular clothes. Tim will sleep late tomorrow so we don't even have to put the presents out or fill stockings until morning.

Christmas is different when your children grow up.

But it is still the most wonderful time of the year.