Letter from Clare

Christmas seems to begin earlier every year, as a child our family were very strict no Christmas decorations before Christmas Eve and from my father’s point of view, as a parish priest, he was adamant, no carol services before then either. Advent was Advent, a time of preparation and there was to be no jumping the gun, there were, after all, 12 days of Christmas, plenty time for Carol Services and the like and there was Epiphany too, which, in the secular world, gets left out. I’m not quite so rigid, you’ll be glad to know, but there are certain bits which remain from childhood which stay with you for always, and we are still pretty strict in our family about decorations not going up too soon.

During one Advent I had the good fortune to travel to Belgium and to stay with some Roman Catholic families and I gained from them some lovely Advent traditions which we have incorporated into our family traditions, one of which is to have the crib characters out, the shepherds in a high place, at watch over their sheep, the wise men travelling and being moved to a different place each day and Mary and Joseph in the kitchen or family room, until a few days before Christmas when they too, begin their journey.

All over the world, there are Advent and Christmas traditions which revolve around the crib and its figures and this year at Ashfield on the weekend of Saturday and Sunday December 7th and 8th, there is an opportunity to come and see nativity crib scenes from around the world and discover something of the worlds traditions. There will be crib sets made too, by local children and by other members of our local community. It should be a good weekend, with refreshments being served too, so please come and support us and learn something new about the Christmas story and be prepared to be challenged, by an ancient story that has contemporary relevance today.

May we all at The Rectory, wish you a very Happy and Peaceful Christmas. 

Clare