{"id":913,"date":"2023-12-21T12:38:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T12:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=913"},"modified":"2023-12-21T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T13:02:09","slug":"happy-christmas-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/news\/2023-12-21\/happy-christmas-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Happy Christmas 2023!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With the last con\u00adcerts and car\u00adol ser\u00advices of 2023 now com\u00adpleted, all that now remains is the final pre\u00adpar\u00ada\u00adtions for the church ser\u00advices and cel\u00adeb\u00adra\u00adtions to come over the next few&nbsp;days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Being a church musi\u00adcian does entail work\u00ading through the night (for Mid\u00adnight Mass) on Christ\u00admas Eve right up to lunch\u00adtime on Christ\u00admas Day itself. These ser\u00advices come at the cul\u00admin\u00ada\u00adtion of the sea\u00adson of Advent, a time of watch\u00ading and wait\u00ading, as we move from there into the sea\u00adson of Christ\u00admas (of which, for the church, Christ\u00admas Day is only the begin\u00adning). This day is one of the high points of the church year, and it is always nice to be able to turn from all the \u2018extern\u00adal\u2019 events (which are them\u00adselves enjoy\u00adable) dur\u00ading the run-up to Christ\u00admas, to these church festivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have some fant\u00adast\u00adic music ready to con\u00adtrib\u00adute to the ser\u00advices at Great St Mary\u2019s this year (includ\u00ading a rather spe\u00adcial vol\u00adun\u00adtary for Mid\u00adnight\u2026), to which I am very much look\u00ading for\u00adward. There is, of course, an added poignancy that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/news\/2023-11-19\/announcement-new-job\/\">this will be my last Christ\u00admas in Cam\u00adbridge<\/a>, so I am look\u00ading for\u00adward to going out on a high! You can find out more about Great St Mary\u2019s Christ\u00admas ser\u00advices <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greatstmarys.org\/xmas\">on this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wish\u00ading a very Happy Christ\u00admas 2023 to one and all, and look\u00ading for\u00adward to everything that 2024 will&nbsp;bring!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bene\u00addict<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1369\" height=\"2067\" src=\"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2.jpg\" alt=\"Christmas at Great St Mary's, the University Church, Cambridge\" class=\"wp-image-914\" style=\"width:500px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2.jpg 1369w, https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2-768x1160.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2-1017x1536.jpg 1017w, https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/GSM_Christmas_2-1356x2048.jpg 1356w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1369px) 100vw, 1369px\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Christ\u00admas at Great St Mary\u2019s, the Uni\u00adver\u00adsity Church, Cambridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the last con\u00adcerts and car\u00adol ser\u00advices of 2023 now com\u00adpleted, all that now remains is the final pre\u00adpar\u00ada\u00adtions for the church ser\u00advices and cel\u00adeb\u00adra\u00adtions to come over the next few&nbsp;days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,52,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-organist","category-site-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedicttodd.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}