A little post of it's own, this.
In Salisbury we noticed we would miss the Cathedral carol service taking place after our visit ended. A carol service for Busy People was advertised at another church nearby, and we decided we might go to it. When the day came, we decided again that we might as well go along even if just to see what a carol service for busy people was like.
My niece was with us. We were a bit late, just in time to be led in to what looked like the last seats right beside the huge Christmas tree behind the wind quartet. The place was packed and it was very large. So we sang carols, my niece sobbed more than sang and my sister in law sang wiping away tears, they had both declared that they cried when they sang, and they did! I thought I might cry as well, having done so in previous church situations, but I didnt, i think being between two people who were was sufficient.
Then there was a sermon, in which the vicar spoke to us all as if we were all in a sitting room chatting. To illustrate a point he was making he produced a plastic kite with a superman picture on it, and ran up and down the aisle to make it fly! What a wonderfully warm, human, person he seemed to be. We all felt warmed and loved somehow.
At the end of the service people came around with mountains of mince pies and gallons of mulled wine, an endless supply. My niece was in floods of tears, i think the whole thing had been such a cathartic experience for her, a woman came to talk to her and offered to ask the vicar to chat to her, he came and took her off to a quieter spot and she came back smiling and feeling a bit overwhelmed.
We had thought of going to a carol service because we thought it might make us feel a bit more christmassy, it was just a thought. It turned out to be a cathartic experience for all of us. My panic 'dreads' thing i had woken up with that morning had totally gone as well.
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Morelle xx