Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 December 2003 12:03:33
Wife and her mum have spent Christmas at Carberry for many years. Carberry is a special place for wife and me because it is where we met, on a singles week-end. In fact, that year, I had lunch with wife (then to be) and her mum at Carberry on Christmas Eve. Last year, we broke with tradition, and had Christmas at home.
Also on the estate, but a separate business, is a candle factory, which we visited this year on Christmas Eve. In the afternoon, we were at the pantomime. On Christmas Day, there was a service in the beautiful modern chapel which is in the grounds of Carberry. A feature of the chapel is that behind the communion table is a glass wall, giving a view of a sizeable lawn, with, at its far end, perhaps about 60 metres from the building, a wooden cross. It is sobering to be thinking about Jesus' birth, with an ever-present reminder of the death he was to endure.
In the evening of Christmas Day, there was a party, with the guests providing the entertainment. Daughter, as always, stole the show. Even her dad did a slot, with a reading of Stewart Henderson's "who left Grandad at the chip shop?" On Boxing Day, I drove to pick up wife's mum, who hadn't felt that she was able to stay at Carberry, but spent that day with us, enjoying the meals, and meeting some old friends. In the evening, there was more entertainment, this time songs from Suzanne Adam (daughter, eager to show off her dancing, was her warm-up act, which I had to miss, since I was taking wife's mum back home).
Many of the people who go to Carberry at Christmas are regulars, so there is catching up to do. It's good, also, to meet people who are first-timers. Back in our own church, on Sunday, I listened to the preacher telling us of his recent trip to Spain, where he met up with a fellowship where he, clearly, felt at home. Perhaps the Carberry Christmas Houseparty has something of the same flavour.