I sat in Church last evening in the place I've sat for more than 30 years each Christmas eve. Because of my partial deafness, the right side of the congregation hall, about a third of the way down. When quite young I sat there with my Mom and Dad and brothers and sisters. Now I sit there with my own family. The service was the same as it has been for those years. Altho' the messenger has changed a few times the message remains unchanged. Peace and good will, charity to all who truly are in need.

One of the ushers reminded me of a Christmas Eve 30+ years ago when Diane and I sat in the balconey at midnite and sang the hymns and said the prayers of Christmas. After the benediction we hugged and kissed and said Merry Christmas and waited in the balconey as the church cleared. Then Diane rode home with a lady from the choir and the usher who greated me at the door. The usher never cared for me but her Mom was on my side it seems.

Time passed and lives changed not always for the better. But something remain unaltered. Diane,s Mom sang in the choir untill she passed away a few years ago. Her step Dad remains to this day a pillar of the church and an usher and a greeter. Still, through all those years of change, seeing the Step Dad in his traditional place was the catalyst to bring this memory back so vividly. And when I closed my eyes in the near dark of the Church, with candles and singers rounding the pews, I was able to recall all of it. The joy and closeness. The voices that have been stilled in their time all came back in the echoes of the church. Diane's Mom, my Dad, friends of ours. All recreated in my memory on this past Christmas eve.

Given the chance I'd be 18 again and in the balconey with my best girl, holding hands and singing "Oh Holy Night" surrounded by those friends and family, missing now in my view but not in my heart.

I hope all your Christmas Past memories are as sweet as mine.

Don