OGT DAILY Day Four Hundred and Forty Five LESSONS and CAROLS

For Christmas Eve we went to the 5:00 pm service at Grace Episcopal Church in Hastings. A service we have not attended since our own children wore cotton ball covered costumes as sheep in the annual pageant.   We traditionally attend the 10 pm "Midnight Mass," but this year it was a treat to see the young families out in masses as their children conducted a mass of lessons and carols all read by the kids.

We sang many of our favorite carols and including my all time favorite by Christina Rossetti:

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan;

Earth stood hard as iron,

Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak mid-winter

Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him

Nor earth sustain,

Heaven and earth shall flee away

When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter

A stable-place sufficed

The Lord God Almighty —

Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom Cherubim

Worship night and day,

A breastful of milk

And a mangerful of hay;

Enough for Him, whom Angels

Fall down before,

The ox and ass and camel

Which adore.

Angels and Archangels

May have gathered there,

Cherubim and seraphim

Thronged the air;

But only His Mother

In her maiden bliss

Worshipped the Beloved

With a kiss.

What can I give Him,

Poor as I am? —

If I were a Shepherd

I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man

I would do my part, —

Yet what I can I give Him, —

Give my heart.