This Christmas Eve was a very busy day and I didn't write a review at the end of the day.

I got the kids up and fed unusually early to ensure that they would get to bed on time on this Christmas Eve.  During the day we watched programs and talked about the meaning of this special day.

We spent the morning cleaning house and preparing for our trip on Christmas Day.  I remember bickering with my wife over our cleaning.  I remember taking the dog for a long walk.   I remember thinking about some ideas that I really wanted to write about.  Now that I think about it, I also remember still struggling a little to find the energy and motivation to pursue Christmas preparation as frenetically as my wife.

In the afternoon we watched the Christmas Eve vigil mass live from St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on television.  It was a gloriously beautiful and spiritually edifying service.  Then we prepared to attend mass ourselves at our parish.  My wife dressed our children spectacularly and my wife and I dressed in coordinated fashion also.  We were a handsome family and I was proud and enthusiastic to attend.  But, when we arrived at Church we were astonished to find it packed beyond capacity.  I had to make a decision to go back home as we would have had to stand in the Foyer and my instincts told me that we might get ushered into an untenable situation inside the sanctuary with our four little restless children.  My wife took advantage of this as a good opportunity to relate this to the real experience of Joseph and Mary being turned away from the Inn.

I did find myself resentful at my wife for her habitual tardiness.  But I quickly realized that I was just as much to blame because I forgot that the Holiday masses are always packed.  For some reason I thought that it would be lightly attended.   I thought about how despite this knowledge the feelings lingered like the light in your eyes when you look at something bright and then close them.

After that my mom and Dad and Brother and partner visited our house for our Christmas gathering.  We ate a great barbecue dinner that my Mom provided.  It was depressing to see my brother and his girl friend in their seeming struggle in life.  They seemed like shivering denizens of addiction's mad realm.  Whereas our interaction with my Mom and Dad was upbeat and convivial.  We played a fun game of naughty or nice where I asked the kids to vote on how naughty or nice each person had been before they opened gifts.  There were lot's of laughs all around.

My kids enjoyed opening their gifts and they got bathed and made it to bed at a reasonable time.  I passed out exhausted with a terrible stomach ache.  My wife stayed up and prepped for Santa's visit overnight.   She stayed awake unreasonably late tending to tasks that she felt she had to do for our one day trip.  I and my kids are lucky to have her.

Thanks be to God.