Little time to myself

I’ve not had much time to write of late – and when I have FOD hasn’t been operating (again!!!). With Christmas on the doorstep a Catholic priest finds himself with little time to himself.

On Wednesday I received a Christmas card from Kim. It was very touching and a great surprise as Kim isn’t the sort of person who send letters or cards. He and I are still very close. There are times when I miss him incredibly and long to be hugged by him. I’m looking forward to the time he’ll spend here in a few weeks. Sadly, in February he’ll be returning to South Korea. I know my heart will ache, but in a vastly different way from when things ended between Xavier and me, who, by the way, I had cause to think about during the week when I heard for the first time in six months or more the song that was “ours”, ‘Fields of Gold’ sung by Eva Cassidy. Kim is a different person altogether from Xavier, and while I found myself through Xavier, it was through Kim that I matured.

There have been quite a number of end of year functions to attend, all enjoyable, but they get a bit much and very tiring, especially when there’s three to go to on the same night! Fortunately they’ve all been and gone now. Which means my energies can turn towards getting ready for Christmas. I’ve just about put the finishing touches to my Christmas homily. The bulletins (pew sheets/newsletter) are done. The main church is yet to be decorated. Bernadette,my youngest sister,will be here on Monday to help me take care of that aspect. It been so busy,though, I’ve not had time to put up even a single decoration in my home. Perhaps that’ll occur on Sunday afternoon.

One of the things I’ve been working on is the series of adult education evenings for next year. Another is the pub talk series. I feel I’ve come up with some excellent topics and speakers for both.

Another major task has been planning the major events for next year and scheduling the various monthly meetings. I know there will be some fine tuning to be done, but otherwise I think it will all work out.

Ethan’s family return home tomorrow from a few days away after his funeral. I’ll call them later in the day to see how they are coping. Christmas won’t be easy for them. I’ll probably see if I can catch up with them for a drink on St Stephen’s Day/Boxing Day.

I had little Christmas shopping to do. In my family we draw names for presents and so we each get one decent present. I drew my other sister, Patricia, and bought her the box CD set of the BBC’s dramatised version of “The Lord of the Rings”. It’s 13 CDs and so was an exensive gift, but she’s done so much for me during the year it’s the least I can do. Bernadette, Patricia and I will see “The Two Towers” late next week.

Speaking of movies, Bernadette and I watched “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets during the week.” I enjoyed it very much. I like the movie as it showed Harry has matured as a person, something I didn’t pick up on when I read the book.

The only Christmas cards I’ve found time to send are those I sent to seven people I write to all of whom are in prison in another country. I know I won’t receive cards in return, but they will write a letter when they have money for a stamp.

I’ve announced to the large social justice group that I belong to that I’ll be stepping down as chairperson at the Annual General Meeting in February. This group was formed around twelve months ago to protest the immoral and unconscionable actions and policies of our national government with regard to a particular issue. It’s been a huge year with much energy and activity, and the time has come for me to have a rest. I know other on the committee will be standing down, too, as they’ve also had a huge input. I’m not leaving the group, just the committee. I’m very proud of our efforts and achievements in the area. Sadly our government is still acting with total disregard to the basic human rights of others and is fanning the flame of racism in the process.

Well, time to get some sleep.