MY FIRST CHRISTMASES

How many "first Christmases" have you had?  Count them and you'll be surprised how many of these occasions qualify as your first time.  I was thinking about it over this past week.  Don't ask me why.  After all, It's only July.  I don't have an explanation, just descriptions.  Even some of the dates may be erroneous, but they will all be in the ballpark - like 315' down the left field line in Fenway. See, I remember that.  Do you remember how high the wall is?  (If you don't remember, look it up😊)

1. First Christmas at Midnight Mass.- 1945.  Some of you will remember that it was only the French and the Polish communities who had permission to celebrate Mass at midnight for Christmas.  At the Immaculate Conception church children were not allowed at Midnight Mass because they would take seats way from adults. This was not a foolish policy.  There were only three churches in the entire city with Midnight Mass.  It required a paid ticket to be admitted. OK, tell me that my being there was not a big deal.  OK, I confess:  a) I had a connection; b) I had to stand in line to buy the tickets; c) My connection gave me my dollar needed to get the extra ticket; I was already 12 years old.

It was such a big deal because it was Midnight Mass I even got to wear regular cut trousers and a quasi adult shirt for the occasion.  It was such a big deal because I wasn't sent to bed at the regular bedtime and allowed to stay up all night.  All I had to do was to help prepare the post-Mass Christmas party that always took place at our house. 

I think that this is the occasion of my social puberty line because that same week my parents trusted me to go help my maternal grandmother and her coterie of elders to prepare the all-day New Years Day event at her apartment.  That too turned into a "tradition" in my life until the #2 first Christmas intruded on me.

2.First Christmas away from home. (1958)

3.First Christmas in a foreign country (Rome, Italy, 1961)

4.First Christmas in a foreign mission (San Mateo, Isabela, Philippines - (1967)

5.First Christmas with a wife and not much else (San Diego, CA - 1977)

6. First Christmas with a wife, a son at the breast, another in the womb and a secular job (1978)

7. First "Early Christmas" in Bethlehem (Yes, that Bethlehem!) (12/8/2009)