The day after---Sunday Dec 26

I hope everyone had a great Christmas yesterday! I had a great time at Mom and Dad's.

We had planned Christmas for here by me, but Mother Nature changed the plans when she dumped snow and ice all over the Mid-South. Instead of my aunt and uncles and mom and dad trying to navigate the icy roads, we decided to postpone the family celebration until things warm up. So I went by the folks and we had a small celebration.

Midnight Mass was nice. A smaller crowd than usual, due to weather I guess. After Mass, a get-together in the school proved to be refreshing and great. Pat and Larry, my dear friend Evelyn's daughter and her husband, work hard to get everything just right! Evelyn was the parish coordinator at Assumption for many years. She lived at the rectory and did most of the work in church and around the parish complex. She passed away in 1997, but her daughter keeps Evelyn's tradition of refreshments after Midnight Mass going year after year.

I made lasagna, rice pudding and spinach dip and took it to the folks for dinner yesterday. Mom made the Greek salad, broccoli and pineapple upside-down cake. There was plenty for the three of us to eat. Got a lot of goodies too in presents and what Santa left in my sock!

Now today, I've caught up on my sleep from staying up at the party and helping with the clean-up until 3:30 am on Christmas Eve. I'm feeling ready to face the day ahead. And again, a Christmas carol is playing in my mind..."Good King Wenceslaus went out, on the feast of Stephen..." Today, December 26 is the feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. Also today, the official designation is Feast of the Holy Family, celebrating the closeness of that Jewish family which welcomed a small child on that lonely night in a cave/manger at Bethlehem.
Titans lost again last night! And the Bears have a better record this year than they do! HA!

Well, I am going to jump in the shower and get ready for 11 am Mass. At 10:30 Central time, I found I can listen to KSL radio on the website from Salt Lake City and hear the weekly "Music and the Spoken Word" radio program that I went to in Salt Lake City. I listened last week and I could picture everything in my mind's eye. So, 10:30 is radio time!

Have a great day everyone!

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus! Dominus Deus Sabaoth, pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua! Hosanna in excelsis! Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini, Hosanna in excelsis!

Mark