Christmas Memories from Autom

A Favorite Christmas Memory - - For me it was years ago when I was pastor of a parish that strived to capture a "picture perfect,” Currier and Ives Christmas. By Midnight Mass all was in place. The trees (perfect and perfectly lighted, of course) were in place. Perfect poinsettias surround the sanctuary. The choir sang perfectly, leading into the opening procession. In a dimly lit church the choir led the entrance procession, softly humming Silent Night while a soprano with perfect pitch sang the verses. As the ministers arrived front and center, there before the altar itself was the Nativity Scene, all perfectly arranged. Or so it seemed! In the haste before that night someone had left a roll of scotch tape directly in the center, right where the figure of the Infant should have been! So much for the Perfect Christmas. This time everything centered around a roll of scotch tape! And from that year on that memory has served to remind me that, try as we may, we cannot make Christmas "perfect." Only One Thing makes Christmas "perfect" -- or should I say only One Person!