Happy Christmas Eve Eve 2021

Happy Christmas Eve Eve! If you remember, it's a new holiday which I created just last year. You can read about it here: Christmas Eve Eve

You forgot, didn't you? Or you only just remembered and was hoping I'd forgotten, right? Just for that, no Christmas Eve Eve gifts for you. And that's not because I never actually bought them either.

So again, Happy Christmas Eve Eve. We'll do it again in 2022. Be ready next time.

It's Christmas Eve

Tonight is the night. God, who loved the world so much, sends his Son into the world as the weakest thing possible: a child, an infant, a mere baby. He could have sent hordes of angels or simply taken the just to Heaven and obliterated the evildoers. Yet He didn't...because all human life is sacred and He wanted all to have a shot at salvation.

Stop shopping. If you don't have what you need by now, you've got enough. Stop putting up decorations. The house looks fine. Stop trying to save the world: you won't (and that's why He's coming anyway). 

Don't worry about the food: there's plenty in the larder, undoubtedly enough that you ought to give some to the needy. And not just the old can of asparagus at the back of the shelf. Something instead which the poor and hungry would appreciate as you would.

Don't fret if you don't see everyone, each family member and friend dear to you, at Christmas or at all during the holidays. You know you love and appreciate them. They know this about you as well.

Stop saving the economy and start saving yourself from all which ails the world. Do what you can, and none of it in excess, and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

Christmas Eve Eve

Is that okay? Is that all right? Can I call December 23 Christmas Eve Eve? The Eve of the Eve of Christmas?

I suppose I just did, eh? Well, why not? The anticipation is pretty much there just the same as with December 24th by now, isn't it? 

My Christmas Eve Eve 2020 will be spent in part driving through small towns looking at their Christmas decor. Sure, I'm working. But it almost doesn't feel like work in such an atmosphere. 

I should do this every year. And thus Marty decrees: from this day hence shall the Twenty Third of December every winter be Christmas Eve Eve. Thus shall it be written; thus shall it be done.

Happy Christmas Eve Eve everyone!

Christmas, Even if a Day Late

Tonight, as they say, is the night. It's Christmas Eve, and all the preparations are just about in order. I have to thank my wife and daughter for the overwhelming majority of that work; I made a trip or two to the store and that's it. Thanks, ladies! To simply sit back and enjoy is gift enough for me, and I appreciate it.

My favorite part of the whole Christmas season comes now. We'll meet at church before Midnight Mass and sing carols, and the church will be lit up right as Mass starts, with the glory of Christmas morning following. Our parish, Sweetest Heart of Mary in Detroit, MI, is a spectacular old building, built when they knew what churches should look like. I miss our old parish, St. Dominic's, a victim to declining inner city Catholic population, but this one certainly is a grand old dame.

I don't want to turn this into a rant, but I'll risk that by saying that I would eschew every trapping of the holiday, every inkling of conspicuous consumption, for people to simply sit back and reflect on Christmas itself. What does it mean? How do we properly enjoy it? What exactly would be a decent balance of celebration and reverence?

Personally, I find it in those carols as we wait for Mass. That's when the appreciation appears for me: the anticipation of the Christ Child coming for our sakes. That's when I get the shivers and goose bumps, and come near tears. That's when Christmas comes for me. I hope so for you as well.

Adeste Fidelis. May the blessing of Christmas be upon you, now and for the coming year.

Christmas Eve Readiness

Let's see...

Decorations up...check.

Food bought...check.

Beer in fridge...check.

Are you sure?

Oh yeah...Guinness and Blue and Stroh's and Sam Adams, and even Bud Light (yuck, but wanting to be a good host).

Cookies for Santa? Carrots for reindeer...check.

Rum for eggnog...see beer reference.

Present for Dad...

Present for Dad...

Cripes. I gotta run.

Merry Christmas Eve all!