The Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come
We've been chilling in New Jersey, pet-sitting for friends and watching all their Mad Men DVDs and generally ignoring our own lives to loll around where our own chores and errands won't call to us. So this morning we walked over to the nearby Episcopal church for Christmas morning service. (I grew up going to church on Christmas morning, and usually prefer it to Christmas Eve, even though Midnight Mass gets all the big music.) It's a small, charming church with lots of warm wood and rough stone, garlanded with lots of fresh pine and sparkly red bows. The service and sermon were very progressive, and the organist was pretty good. Lots of spirited carol singing from the congregation, which looked to be fewer than 75 people today. (I love that big collective gasp of breath before the chorus of Angels We Have Heard on High.)
At the Peace, I noticed a single man seated a few rows behind us, and did a double take. He was wearing a three-piece suit with a bright red silk tie that was perfectly dimpled and plumped above the vest. There was a discreet red pocket square at his breast, and everything fit him perfectly. He had a neat, graying beard, and his hair was pulled back into a sleek little pony tail. He had tall but relaxed posture, and a striking profile. In other words, he looked like my husband's doppelganger, only twenty years older. I nudged Leit and pointed him out, and we giggled discreetly when he came by for communion. It was an uncanny moment, seeing this premonition.
With that, I wish you all a very happy Christmas Present, and all good things in the coming year.
At the Peace, I noticed a single man seated a few rows behind us, and did a double take. He was wearing a three-piece suit with a bright red silk tie that was perfectly dimpled and plumped above the vest. There was a discreet red pocket square at his breast, and everything fit him perfectly. He had a neat, graying beard, and his hair was pulled back into a sleek little pony tail. He had tall but relaxed posture, and a striking profile. In other words, he looked like my husband's doppelganger, only twenty years older. I nudged Leit and pointed him out, and we giggled discreetly when he came by for communion. It was an uncanny moment, seeing this premonition.
With that, I wish you all a very happy Christmas Present, and all good things in the coming year.