It is 2 days before Christmas, and like most everyone else, I have lots to do. The best I can do today is a post of random thoughts on the holiday, my own preparations, and various observations.
- The number of days remaining until Christmas is inversely proportional to the number of hours your cat wants to spend in your lap. That was for the math-y types out there. Here’s how it works: As the number of days until Christmas decreases, the hours with kitty in lap increases.
- If you are loaded up with inspiration but lack motivation, avoid home decorating blogs in the week prior to Christmas. Yes, it’s fun to see what incredibly creative people do with greens from their own back yards or coffee filters or feathers. However, those of us who have spent the last several weeks focused on surviving through Christmas concerts and college applications only feel like slackers when they compare this creativity to their own meager attempts to deck the halls.
- Since when has the classification of Christmas carols become so broad? If a song mentions a gift or winter, is it Christmas Carol worthy? Joni Mitchell’s “River” is a huge downer that has nothing to do with Christmas. “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music mentions snowflakes and mittens, so it must be about Christmas, right?
- I’m pleasantly surprised to see an abundance of Nativity Scenes as part of outdoor Christmas decorations in my neighborhood. I don’t recall seeing so many last year. I wonder if it’s due to the impending societal collapse that’s sure to come in the New Year, or if people are just finding Jesus now in anticipation of the Mayan End-of-the-World prediction for 2012. Whatever the case, I say, keep them coming!
- Midnight Mass is at 11 pm. I know midnight is late, but come on.
Wishing you joy and true peace as you celebrate the birth of the Savior.
The Uncommonhousewife 
We had midnight Mass at 9:30. Oy.
Um…9:30 for Midnight Mass?? Can you even call that “Midnight”? This is an excellent article on this issue: http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re1034.htm
I love this quote from it:
“Midnight Mass is the ultimate sign that we are adjusting our lives to fit Christmas. In the whole year – sacred or profane – no other event begins at midnight. For no other reason do we head out in the middle of the night. In the heart of the night, in the heart of the darkest season, in the heart of the winter bleakness, Catholics gather because they have seen a great light. It is the Christmas tradition par excellence.”
This same frustration will come around again during Holy Week, when some parishes will hold their Easter Vigil Mass as early as 4 pm. Nothing like the Easter Fire conquering the darkness of mid-afternoon!