Swirling Chandeliers

I could have added more, but on four hours of sleep this was all I could manage. There may be another entry at a later time!

We attended our very first Orthodox Christmas Eve Service yesterday evening. The service starts with Matins at 10:00 PM and then moves on to a Divine Liturgy ending with a service of carols surrounding an Icon of the Nativity. We actually hemmed and hawed about the decision to attend this service because we would have to bring the kids with us. After talking with some other parishoners, we decided to bring them along in their PJ’s with pillows and blankets. Apparently, this is standard practice for the late evening/early morning services.

I expected Mikey and David to sleep and for Ana to remain awake for the entirety of the service. It didn’t quite happen that way! We entered the nave just as Matins was beginning. It was quiet, and the nave was darkened save the shimmying candlelight. We arranged the kids on the floor with blankets and pillows, Mikey actually spread out on three chairs and fell off to sleepy land fairly quickly. Ana and David rose from the floor quickly and wanted to be held. I had never attended a Matins service and so it was all new to me. I tried to absorb as much as I could while keeping the younger two children under control, with Jim’s help of course. It’s always a tag team effort.

Some where in the middle of Matins, one of the Sub-Deacons came to stand under the huge chandalier which hangs in the middle of the church. He then began to swing the monstrous behemoth, round and round. The chandalier had been cleaned recently and once the lights were turned up it’s many twirled stems glistened and sent glinting little lights throughout the nave. Ana and David were enraptured…their little eyes glued as the lights made their twisting journey. Once the twirling stopped, Ana begged, “again.” Unfortunately, we won’t see this feat again until Pascha!

Aside from wanting to be held and wanting to make several trips to the front of the nave to “kiss Mary,” Ana was fairly well behaved and eventually conked out on the floor after I rubbed her back for a few moments. It had been a long day with presents at our house and then presents at Grandmom and PopPop’s. I thought for sure her little brother would follow suit, but no dice. David remained awake for the entire service! He was like a little commentator, remarking in his babbling way about what was going on, pointing out icons and candles to us as if we couldn’t see them. Just when his head would start to feel heavy on my shoulder and I’d think, “A Ha!”, his little head would pop up and his finger would be extended to point out something to Jim or I. At least we only had one child to worry about! He didn’t cry often except when he wanted to switch being held by Jim or I. Even on the way home in the van he was smiling and babbing! I’m glad he had a good time.

Mikey woke up in the middle of the service and stumbled downstairs to the fellowship hall. Jim said to, “let him work it out.” I decided to bring his blanket and pillow to him in case he was retiring on the floor. Once I made it down the stairs, I heard him crying softly in the bathroom and was obviously moved to investigate what was happening. I found him on the floor with his PJ bottoms around his knees all hunched over sobbing. Somehow, he had managed to wet his underwear, but not his PJ bottoms…I guess he managed to “drop trou” but not “undies!”

“It’ll be alright honey, just take your PJ bottoms off, take off your underwear and then pull your pants up again…no one will no the difference.”

“I don’t like the way that feels,” he replied.

“We don’t have any choice,” I said. “I didn’t bring a change of underwear for you.”

He was really upset, so I helped him do the switch. I had David with me so I decided to let him run around the I re-settled Mikey on the floor in the Fellowship Hall. Sadie, a truly delightful Lebanese woman I’ve spoken with before showed up downstairs while I was helping Mikey settle in. She tried to cheer Mikey up to no avail.

“He really doesn’t like not having any underwear on,” I told her.

“I know,” she replied. “And we don’t have a drier here. You could microwave them!”

“That’s a good idea!”

Sadie held David while I rinsed out Mikey’s underwear in the bathroom sink. She offered to take David back up with her, but he refused. Once I had the underwear rinsed out, she went back up to the nave while I microwaved the underwear. Underwear is microwavable! Who knew?! It took several minutes but I finally got the underwear dry and I handed it back to Mikey who I think rearranged himself again under his blanket. All was well…

(yes, I bleached out the microwave afterwards…even though urine is sterile.)

David and I returned to the Nave for the conclusion of the Liturgy. I grabbed two candles and handed one to the lady sitting next to me who I later discovered was Coptic. As I held the beeswax candle, I relished smelling it’s honey sweet smell…reminding me of the sweet gift Christ brought into the world. We sang several traditional Christmas Carols starting with “O Come all ye Faithful” and ending with “Silent Night.” It was a peaceful and beautiful way to the end the evening in the darkened nave with candles glowing on the faces around…reminding me that we all reflect God’s image. It was a beautiful ending to a slightly hectic service!

Have a blessed nativity!