The First Christmas

In 1978 we moved in to our first home as a family, with our new baby boy, Jeremy. It was a Church of Ireland house and I had been appointed sexton of St. John's Cathedral, a post I remember warmly to this day. I remember meeting a lovely priest at the time in John Street, Fr. Christopher Jones who is now Bishop of Elphin, and he jokingly remarked, "I hope you are still practicing." We were Roman Catholics. I replied, "Of course we are Father." We laughed all the way to the house when Mary told me that she thought he was enquiring if were still practicing at being a married couple.
That first Christmas was a special time. We decorated the house, put up our tree and placed all the early presents from America beneath it. We were as cosy as church mice and my memories of that first Christmas are those, that only nostalgia can conjure up, many years afterwards. When you are newly married, with a child to share the holiday season, Christmas becomes new again. A child's first Christmas rekindles the wonder and delight of this special time of the year.
One of the gifts we opened that Christmas morning was a crystal-type tree ornament. It came packaged in a blue felt bag and depicted a small boy standing before a Christmas tree. On the outer box was written:
"The Christmas tree is an enchanted vision to a child; an almost awesome revelation, to be approached with breathless wonder.....eyes wide and aglow. And below the tree, spangled-paper wrappings hide mysterious marvels to be explored individually, with bubbling delight.
Later Christmas's are joyous too, of course; filled with laughter, gifts and greetings that build a bright collage of memories from one year to the next. But a child's first Christmas is a separate, precious thing....a kind of miracle, which lucky ones among us sometimes share."