Christmas joy and anticipation

Christmas joy - going to Mass in the morning, having one big feast with the Sisters topped off by flaming plum pudding, then getting together with my family for another big feast, presents, and again the ritually flamed plum pudding (eaten by only a few of us, but enjoyed by all - my family's ritual requires that those who do not eat pudding may have ice cream but may not have any of the delectable hard sauce). This year for the first time we had our Christmas dinner at the home of my nephew John and his wife Pat: this year was different because Ken, my dear brother-in-law, died in April, and while his presence was everywhere around us today, we all knew it was time to move the feast away from the table where he and my sister Kathy had welcomed us so many, many times. Before that, when my father and mother were still alive, we met at their house for Christmas dinner - and that house on Magnolia Bluff now belongs to John and Pat, so going there felt warm and right.

For me the rituals and warm familiarity of Mass and singing and family and food were seasoned with sadness, with missing Ken, and with anticipation, because tomorrow I'm packing up and staying at a hotel near the airport, and Saturday I fly to El Salvador. And there also I will meet Jesus who came to be among us como hermano, como compañero - as brother and friend.