Humbuggery

Isn't this a nice tree? The only time I have felt vaguely Chritmassy so far is when we were putting up and decorating this huge tree in the Cathedral last Saturday. Since then, pretty well nothing.

I am currently finishing off a bottle of Brothers Pear Cider, given to me by GS & GS who have been raving about it for ages. Very nice indeed. But I still don't feel festive.

So since finishing work on Friday I have spent about 3 hours on Saturday at the Cathedral climbing up and down ladders putting up then decorating the tree (two female members of the choir are also on the vestry and were the sole members of the erection committee - insert your own punchline here). Sunday saw the usual Eucharist at 1030hrs followed by 8 of us indulging in a very nice lunch in the Lansdowne pub nearby. I had about 35 minutes at home then had to leave to buy a last minute present enroute to the carol service which was at 1830hrs (preceded of course by a rehearsal starting at 1645hrs). So off home then at about 2000hrs but back to the Lansdowne at 2130hrs for a pre-rehearsal refreshment and then the midnight mass. And so to bed at about 0200hrs and up again for the 1030hrs Eucharist on Christmas morning. Too much.

I can't be arsed listing all the music we have sung in the past few days, but one highlight was a damn fine rendition of Darke's In the Bleak Midwinter (aka In the BMW) which I am told reduced our Director of Music FW to tears (I didn't notice this) causing CG to comment that perhaps next time he'll cry because it was good! Another moment was O Magnum Mysterium by Morten Lauridson which is a lovely piece of music. Very atmospheric.

Yesterday, Christmas day, I had plans to do bugger all. A friend who was working said she'd possibly manage to visit at some point in the day, which I thought would probably mean evening time if at all. To my surprise and delight she called a bit after 1pm to say she was about to leave work and could come round. So we both enjoyed a very nice roast beef dinner and watched the usual crap Christmas TV for a while. A good day.

We've got a nice wee break from the Cathedral, well one week anyway, before Epiphany when we are singing a choral mass but haven't seen the music yet. I think it's some Haydn or something, so shouldn't be too stressful to sight-read.