December 24th

We got out of bed about 8:30 this morning, had breakfast and were off to Victoria Station. From there we walked to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. Since it is winter there were far fewer people than usually observe though it was still packed we got the opportunity to see a lot of the proceedings. We stood on the Victoria Memorial to get good views of the guards marching up the street as well as the changing of the guards in front of the palace. Lara really enjoyed the marching bands that lead the guards to the Palace. It was neat to see all the guards decked out in uniform and weapons as they marched to the gates. The bands played several Christmas carols before marching back out and down the street. We strolled back along Buckingham Palace Road on our way to Victoria Station. I was planning to tour St. Paul’s that afternoon but they had closed earlier than expected for evensong and were taking no more visitors.

Throughout our several days in London, we have had many cups of Starbucks coffee, it is wonderful! We had lunch there again today and rested before heading to Trafalgar Square. It was a stark contrast seeing it by night and was really pretty with all the Christmas decorations and lights. We stood in line at St. Martins-in-the Field for the Eventide Christmas Carols. We sat in the balcony and couldn’t really see anything but it was still pretty cool to listen and sing carols. From where we sat, we could see the organist who was amazing!

Then we headed straight back to St. Paul’s since the underground was closing early for Christmas Eve. Then I dragged an unhappy and sleepy Lara to St. Paul’s for Midnight Eucharist. For both services we stood in line for over an hour to get seated. I really enjoyed this service, it was so neat to see the Anglican service and take communion in the more catholic tradition. The organ music and all boys choir were wonderful to listen to and we were seated where we could see the bishop during the Biblical readings and the blessing. The sermon, by Reverend Canon Mark Oakley, was about incorporating contemporary wisdom into worship and removing our masks to let the light of Christ shine through us, it was quite a good sermon which I enjoyed very much. The service was our about 1:30am and we went straight to bed.