Mulled wine, sausage rolls, mince pies wishing you a convivial Christmas with carols .......

My morning walk was later than usual but as I passed through the woodland opposite the house, possibly once upon a time a Christmas Tree Plantation, I startled a deer who kicked up her heels and dashed into the denser part of the woodland pausing only to offer a brief glimpse of her white tail.

The mix of weathers following Saturdays ice storm has left the ground underfoot somewhat wet, muddy and slippery but the deer was much more sure footed than I was as she headed in the direction of the Church across the fields.

Yesterday started well until a Crow decided to drop in, literally a flying visit, down the chimney and into the living room, fortunately apart from the shock for Elizabeth, there was little damage other than some Christmas decorations that were dislodged and a few cards sent tumbling.

Recovering her presence of  mind quickly Elizabeth opened a window and the Crow was ushered out back to where it belongs.

But the day recovered and soon we were preparing ourselves for our first parish event, joining a few members of the congregation to sings carols around the parish.

We started in a local nursing home where the residents joined in with the singing, obviously recalling the words with no difficulty, then we moved on to a new housing estate, the largest single settlement in the parish, built literally on the border between Northumberland and Durham.

Again friends and neighbours turned out, with children well wrapped against the cold, we sang under a street lamp and began the gentle business of ushering Christmas into the parish.

Our procession included two more rural settlements, more carols, more mulled wine and stollen before the company gathered around the fire in the local pub and carolling turned to conversing over glasses of ale.

This first Christmas will be both a celebration and a voyage of discovery, most of what will happen has the ring of familiarity but like any parish things here are done in a particular way, so I will be approaching the season with a mix of confidence and uncertainty.

But the Nativity scene outside the church continues to attract the attention of passers by and yesterday I stopped to chat to Tad (Tadeusz) a member of the congregation for thirty more years, who made the new, replacement figures and stopped to tell me the history of the display as he hung the Nativity Star over the Crib.

2019 will be a year of getting to know people more familiarly and walking with them in the way of the Gospel in this remarkable community with its unusual name.  'Snods' is meant to be a form of the word Snow and 'Edge' suggests that the weather will always be challenging in the winter months.

However as the weather improves the conviviality that seems to be a hallmark of this community will shift from Carols to become focused around preparing and sharing food an emphasis that finds its hallmark in the Gospels and in the Eucharist as bread is broken and shared and wine blessed and spilt.

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