On Christmas Eve, we spent much of the day at home taking care of home-things. In the evening, we headed out to New Baltimore to go to the Christmas Eve service. We actually had parts in the service: we were reading the parts of Mary and Joseph in a historical-fiction recreation of how the birth of Jesus may have gone, in more detail than the Bible gives us.

I have to admit that I was not excited for the service. I was tired, and I wanted a passive role in a quiet service. But we had agreed to help out, and Janet (the pastor’s wife) is a good friend, so I went to do my duty. I’m glad I did. The service was really good – our readings were interspersed with music, both congregational singing and solos or small groups from the stage, and there were Scripture readings as well. It all came together beautifully, and it made me feel a lot better than when I had left for church. Mer and I read our lines fine (no botches), and Mer sang a solo that was very pretty. The service ended with the singing of “Silent Night” by candlelight.

On Sunday, which was Christmas day, we were supposed to go to church in the morning. First, I remembered I needed to run in to work to make a quick e-mail server adjustment because of some changes the e-mail company had made. While I was there, I got pretty ill from something I had eaten the night before, so when I got home, I skipped church, and Mer went by herself.

I made some dessert for a party Mer was going to later in the day, and slept a little. That helped me to feel better, so I headed down to North Canton to Aunt Mary’s place for lunch. Mer and Aunt Mary were pleased to see me, and dinner was on the stove. Aunt Mary had invited a couple of her friends over, so we had a party of five for lunch. It was a later lunch, about 2:00, so after we had eaten, I excused myself, since I was still feeling a bit ill, and I went home. Mer stayed until almost 5:00, and lost to Aunt Mary in a game of Trivial Pursuit.

Mer then went to the Georges’ house, where her best friend from childhood was home for a few days. She got in a good visit over supper, and came home by about 8:00. As such, we did not really get to spend much time together on Christmas Day, so we had agreed to have our Christmas gift-exchange on Monday, which I had off from work.