the cassandra pages: Happy Christmas!

...and Happy Boxing Day today. We're in our studio, drinking coffee and eating Christmas bread, and doing what my father would call "reconnoitering" after the busyness of the holiday preparations.

I got home at 2:00 am on Christmas Eve/morning after singing two services, the 4:00 pm Lessons and Carols service and the 11:00 midnight mass. For the latter, we sang Charpentier's Messe de Minuit pour Noel. The cathedral was gorgeous and simple that night - a tall, lighted Christmas tree to the side of the lectern; a bank of red poinsettias on the altar; wreaths between each of the windows; the clergy, including the bishop of Montreal, in white. There was a long procession up the middle and around the side aisles to "Come All Ye Faithful" and "O Come O Come Emmanuel" and then we sang the mass in French from the organ loft in the back, looking out over the throng of late-night church-goers, some of whom turned around and stared up at us. Charpentier's mass for Christmas is based on a set of old French carol dances, and Patrick had worked those tunes into the service in other ways; we sang one as the introit, and others formed the basis of his organ prelude. Because they are dances, the whole service felt lilting and happy, and I especially loved watching the French members of our choir enjoying themselves even more than usual, as well as knowing that the bilingual service was open and welcoming to whomever had come in that night; people looked happy, and it certainly made me feel Christmas-y and as if I'd particiated in some early gift-giving.

Yesterday was quiet until evening, when we got together with friends, most of whom didn't have family around, at our house for dinner; everyone brought something and we sat at the table eating a many-course meal and talking until quite late, finishing with traditional dark fruitcake, Christmas gingerbread cookies, some delicious Chilean dessert wine and a deep blue bottle of Quebec cider and cream liqueur. It felt like a typical Montreal gathering: one guest (and fellow blogger) tweeted afterwards: "Noël multiculturel: 2 vermontois, 1 indien de la Zambie, 1 colombienne, 1 français de Dunkerque, 1 nouvel-écossais et 1 québécoise de Québec."

And now -- a deep breath as we take stock of the year past, and look ahead to a new year and new decade in the place that's now our permanent home.

Happy holidays to all of you!