Sweet Baby Jesus

So, I am a few days late in reporting back how Midnight Mass went, but here it is.

It actually went very well. Rose stayed asleep through the procession, which slowly wound its way around the church. The priest was holding her through that procession at the start of Mass - he and "baby Jesus" came last, after a slew of incense-bearing altar boys, our deacon, another priest, and Phillip and I. When we got to the altar he gave her back to me so that Phillip and I could move forward to place her in the manger. Then the manger scene was incensed and blessed. It was a truly beautiful moment, and I imagined Jesus as a newborn, come to save the world.  What an incredible sense of hope!

Up until this point Rose was incognito in her white swaddling cloth, so I am sure everyone was like, "Oooh, what a cute little boy!" and "Awwww, sweet baby Jesus!"

But then? Our priest outed her! He announced for all to hear that this was Rose Felicity and she was our baby Jesus for today. Oops! But strangely enough, people came up to us after Mass to coo at the baby and none of them knew it was a girl. So somehow they were either all late and didn't hear, or were asleep in the pews. I am thinking asleep, because I was asleep and I was walking around with my eyes open and stuff. Which is only creepy if you actually know I am asleep. I hide it well. It's a skill.

Rose ended up snapping awake the moment I put her down in the manger scene. At first she looked a little freaked out. But instead of crying at the top of her lungs she looked around at everything. I am sure she was wondering who these people surrounding her were (statues of Mary, Joseph, Angel and Shepherds). Fortunately, she sort of rolled a little to one side and ended up looking right up into the face of Mary. This seemed to grip her attention and she stared at Mary's face for quite a while. I imagined Jesus staring up at his mother's face like that. 

Finally, at the Gospel she started to lose it so I picked her up and nursed her. I ended up keeping her in my lap for the rest of the Mass until just before the final blessing.

The whole 3am bedtime didn't go great for me, but at least I was able to nap the next day since my family was in town to help with the kids. And now it is New Years Eve, but there is just no way I am staying up past midnight again! Instead, I will be participating in a murder mystery this evening and ringing in the New Year at 9PM with New York.

If all goes well and I am not the one who gets bumped off tonight, then I will be sure to post pictures. I am supposed to be the "Hollywood starlet", which is going to be hard to pull off with a baby strapped to me. As a friend told me, I can pretend I am unmarried and that will make it très Hollywood.

Happy New Year! Prospero Año Nuevo y Felicidad!