The Neighbours

My wife and I went for our Christmas Eve walk around our part of town to look at all the Christmas lights and decorations. Some people are very creative, some just put out as many lights as they can find room for, some are modest and "tasteful". All of them celebrate Christmas and are wonderful.

The neighbours here in St. Blog's have their Christmas finery out, too.

Ad Orientem, as usual, has some interesting things you won't find else where. Look for his links to Apollo 8 Christmas Eve broadcasts.

Gerard at A Catholic Blog for Lovers has some lovely passages, including some poetry, especially note the one from the Carmelite, Jessica Powers.

"Davey's Mommy" at Chirp links to a New York Daily News story: "The homeless men and women who gathered in the cold, wearing dark woolen hats and soiled clothes, bore little resemblance to Santa, but they presented a Christmas gift anyway Tuesday, and to a most unlikely recipient — a police officer."

One lovely blog, fairly new to me, called One Pilgrim's Walk, has a fascinating essay on the star of Bethlehem. And NORAD has its eye on Santa.

Quenta Narwenion (sorry I can't make the proper diacritical marks come up) has some good things from St. Philip Neri, the Venerable Cardinal Newman, G. K. Chesterton, and much else.

At Oblique House you can read of one family's preparation for Christmas. I wish I could make that description sound as interesting as Ellyn's writing is.

John Betjeman's Christmas is on view on Mystique et Politique.

And "Elinor Dashwood", a.k.a. Mrs. Cacciaguida, will teach you to make a good Christmas punch with the magnificent name of "Smoking Bishop". Visit her Mommentary blog site.

A reference for a good Anglo-Catholic Christmas sermon, this time from Dr. Pusey, can be found at Little Gidding.

And finally, over at Pompous Ponderings you can find out even before they do what Dave is getting his family for Christmas.

I have a few more favourites that I can't visit this Christmas Eve; the comment system "haloscan" is being cranky about loading tonight so any blog using it is prevented from loading except at a glacial pace. So this has been a shorter tour than originally intended.

If any readers are in the Orange County, California area this Christmas Day, there will be a beautiful Christmas Day Mass at noon at St. Mary's by the Sea, in the ancient Latin rite formulated by St. Gregory the Great and following the rubrics approved by the Blessed Pope John XXIII. You will be most welcome to attend.

And our thanks to Bishop Todd Brown, the Bishop of the Orange Diocese for continuing to provide the ancient rite for us who love it.

Merry Christmas.