repeat the sounding Joy

The stars were brightly shining.  Even in Falls Church, Virginia.  Because on that O Holiest of nights, they must do their very best to praise their Creator.  It was cold and clear and dark but for the twinkle lights framing bewreathed doors as I hastened to the Church beside my little mama and not-so-little (but still my baby) brother.  

And we opened the doors to be embraced by a glow of warmth and light.  The Church was bathed in golden Christmas light and the Joy of Him Who is Light and Love and our only Happiness.  He was there as He always is.  Quietly waiting for us in the Tabernacle to celebrate with us His descent among us.  

The Vigil Mass on Christmas Eve is my favorite, second only to Easter Vigil.  It is dark in the world around us, but the Light of the world is piercing the darkness and He willingly comes to rest in our hearts as well.  As long as we have prepared Him room.

I think the Vigil for me is maybe a tiny bit like what Our Lady and St. Joseph must have felt before anyone else had arrived to worship the newborn King.  They were able to adore Him as the world lay sleeping, not yet knowing the Joy that had entered.  That is how it feels to me.  We get to be some of the first to rejoice.  To wish Him Happy Birthday and thank Him for coming to save us.  

Before the sun rises on Christmas morning, we get to honor the Dawn from on High that has broken upon us to shine on us who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and guide our feet in the way of peace (from the Canticle of Zechariah in the first chapter of St. Luke's Gospel).  Before all of the loveliness of merry making with kith and kin, inherent in our celebration of this great Feast, we get a moment free from the delightful chaos, to be simple and small before the little Jesus.  

O, night Divine.  

And, true to my obsession with Feast days--the bigger the Feast, the bigger the excitement-  And, true to the fact that a good deal of the child of Christmases past still dwells in me, I believe i might have slept a total of an hour Christmas Eve.  It couldn’t be helped.  So, I peeled myself out of bed and made a bee line for the coffee maker.  Then, just to check to make sure the sun was cooperating with Christmas, i opened the blinds, and what to my wondering eyes did appear? No, no, no, it wasn’t a miniature sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer. It was way better.

It was the dawn.  Or the end of dawn and the start of Christmas sunrise, still in her brilliant youth.  I betook myself to my room in a tizzy of Christmas cheer, booted up and got me and my camera out that door.  Cold means nothing to me in these moments.

It was SO worth not sleeping to greet Jesus’ Birthday with the sun.  It was my first (in memory) Christmas sunrise.  It will so not be the last.  I smell a Christmas tradition brewing.  The coffee tasted better in the glow of a sunrise (and maybe because it was spiked with a little something creamy and irishy).  

And what, might you ask, was the first Christmas gift opened on Christmas? 

Well, it seems we all have a little of the child left in us (especially where Christmas is concerned), because Christina could not wait another second to open a gift a friend of hers got her and told her she couldn’t open until Christmas (this gift taunted her mercilessly all week)

It was so perfect for the first gift on Christmas morning:

There it is.  Humanity being comforted by Our Lady because she holds in her womb our Savior. I love the look of deep sadness and shame in Eve, and the look of immense humility, love, compassion, and tenderness in the Blessed Mother’s face. 

Beautiful.  Merry Christmas, all of humanity.

We had Mass with the whole family and I got to snuggle my sweet little Sophia Rose.  As I held her after receiving the Body of our Savior, and listened as the Church sang praises to Him, it was as perfect a Christmas moment as I have ever known.  

the McCabe girls

After Mass it was an explosion of merry and bright and just short of bringing us some figgy pudding.  We had the predictable mimosa to accompany present openings.  There was joy, and surprises, and tears.  

Best of all, we had Sophia. 

Girlfriend is now way into presents.

She may have had no idea why there were presents coming at her from all sides, but she was not complaining.  She was our little elf that brought the magic and excitement of Christmas morning presents back into business for us.  Thank you, little gingersnap.  

Dinner was delicious, thanks to the bloodless sweat and tearless tears of Christina.  She rocked her first Christmas solo in her own kitchen.  Rocked it like the rockin boppin boss she is.

We ate it and shared reflections on our personal journeys through Advent and thus far into Christmas.  It was beautiful and Jesus was there.  Because it is He that brings the Beauty.  Always.  After supping, and after Sophia dumping some of the contents of the sugar bag onto the kitchen floor, and the contents of the candy basket into the foyer, and the contents of her Christmas presents...everywhere (and we love every minute of it because she is there being the cutest thing ever), there wasn’t much left to do besides have oreo ice cream pie.  Because that is just what we like.  Or at least what Lianna and I really really like.  

It was such a Merry first day of Christmas.   

Yesterday was the second day of Christmas, and we spent it as a family (minus the McCabes) worshipping the Lord together at Mass at the Basilica in D.C.

We then went to the Arlington National cemetery to visit my Dad’s mama who passed away when he was 13 years old.  

Before she passed away, she brought 9 children into this world.  One of them being my wonderful father

and though I have never met her in this life, I am forever grateful to her for the gift of my dad. We all are.  

I have hope that one eternity I will deliver my gratitude in person, but I feel pretty confident she already knows.  I can tell, from the wonderful son she brought into this world and loved on this earth as long as she was given, that she was a beautiful person and I very much look forward to meeting her. 

Contemplating the loss of my dad’s mama, the grandmother I have never known but wish i could know, on the second day of celebrating Jesus’ birth, really brings to life humanity’s need for a Savior.  Not just for our hour of death, but to help us learn how to live a beautiful life that embraces God’s will at every moment.  Even those moments we feel surrounded in darkness.  

He came because He saw us in those moments of suffering and sorrow and did not want to leave us alone in them.  He saw my 13 year old father and his other brothers and sisters, heart broken over the loss of their mother, and He could not leave them to feel that pain alone.  So He came.  As one like us in all things but sin.  And He chose to feel the suffering and sadness and sorrow that we wish we could run away from often times.  He walked into it willingly.  Just so we would not be alone in it.  Just because He Loves us.  And He transforms our tears into rejoicing.  He showed us that after death, there is resurrection.  There is new life.  There is hope in the darkness, because He is the Light, and the darkness has not overcome it.  

Though we walked toward my grandma Flora’s beautiful grave in sadness, as we stood there praying together we had the consolation of Christ and the hope that she is free and with Love Himself for eternity repeating the sounding Joy.  

And we went forth with hope and were filled with the gift of laughter as my dad recounted his favorite stories of his mama and their magical childhood Christmases and other holidays.  

Our personal favorite might be the classic story of his parents leaving raisins on the floor on Easter morning to give the children some hard evidence that the Easter bunny had not only been there, but had left behind his calling card of sorts. Only the Easter Bunny is sweet enough to poop raisins.

Joy to the world, indeed.

It is now the 3rd day of Christmas. I love the Church for so many reasons, not least of which being that the Easter Season and Christmas Season are only beginning on Easter day and Christmas day.  There are still 9 days left of Christmas for us to contemplate Jesus being the tiniest, most helpless, most innocent and most beautiful little human being ever born.  To soak in the Love and Joy that is this glorious Feast.  And to seek the true Love and humility that can only be found in the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

Have the happiest, most blessed rest of Christmas!  

Repeat the Sounding Joy