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Why, hello my dear! What a nice surprise! Come in, and little Georgina as well! I expect you\u2019ll be looking forward to Christmas won\u2019t you my dear? You know, it\u2019s a little bit early, but I think we ought to have a nice piece of my fruitcake don\u2019t you? We were decorating the church for Christmas this afternoon and I\u2019ve only just come in myself and I was just about to have a cup of tea and thought I ought to make myself wait for Christmas Eve to get the fruitcake out, but here you are, and oh, before I forget I\u2019ve got a little present for Georgina. It\u2019s not much. It\u2019s under the tree there dear. You go and get it. No, not that one dear, that\u2019s a bottle for Fr. O\u2019Driscoll. Yours is the one next to it with the little snowmen on the paper. Yes, that\u2019s the one. Now you mustn\u2019t open it until Christmas morning you know. Here\u2013 is that piece of cake too big? Of course not, you can finish it. No problem. You should try some Georgina. I know it doesn\u2019t look as cheerful as those cupcakes from the Piggly Wiggly, but believe me, it\u2019s much tastier. Ahh, the kettle\u2019s boiling. That\u2019s a cheerful sound isn\u2019t it? I must just tell you what Fr. O\u2019Driscoll said a few years ago when he was visiting me at Christmas time. Well, I gave him a piece of my fruitcake, and I don\u2019t know if you know it, but I\u2019m rather famous for my fruitcake at Christmas. I make it from an old family recipe. You mix up all the raisins and currants and cherries and cranberries and pecans and cashews and almonds and you bake the cake oh, sometime in October and then you put it in the kitchen cupboard and every Sunday you get it out and add a cup of sherry or port. Oh my goodness, by Christmas time it\u2019s quite something! It was a favorite of Fr. O\u2019Driscoll\u2019s and he said one year, \u201cYou know, Mrs Brady, this cake is a bit like the Catholic Church.\u201d He was always finding homely connections was dear old Fr O\u2019Driscoll. \u201cThe Catholic Church is full of fruits and nut cases and a fair bit of alcohol too, but it\u2019s still a mighty sweet thing, and there\u2019s a mystery in all that you know.\u201d Then he was thinking a bit more and munching on the cake and Alfie was on his lap purring away like a little motorboat and Fr. O\u2019Driscoll said, \u201cAnd furthermore, you know how you keep the cake in the dark for three months and keep working on it, and then you bring it out when the time is right and it\u2019s a beautiful thing? Well, I reckon that\u2019s a bit like the way the good Lord works on you and me. He keeps us in the dark much of the time and we\u2019re not sure what he\u2019s doing with us, and he just gently keeps adding the Holy Spirit and then, when everything is about at the right time he brings us out and it\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d Yes, I know dear. Fr. O\u2019Driscoll had his problems, but don\u2019t we all? I can remember one time he came back from the cathedral and was quite put out at the sermon the young parochial vicar preached. The young fellow told everyone not to give money to the beggars outside the cathedral because they would only spend the money on drink. Father said, \u201cWhat does the young scamp know about anything? If I was a poor beggar on the streets on a cold winter night there\u2019s nothing I\u2019d like better than to have a good stiff drink.\u201d Oh, I did laugh at that one! Oh, he\u2019s all right. Don\u2019t you worry about Fr. O\u2019Driscoll. He doesn\u2019t much like that retirement home for priests, but I stop by once a week and take him out to lunch and it cheers him up some. Yes, he\u2019s coming here for Christmas again this year, and I expect he\u2019ll fall asleep in front of the fire with his rosary after Christmas dinner. It doesn\u2019t matter that much does it dear? I often fall asleep saying my prayers, and I don\u2019t expect the good Lord minds too much. Wasn\u2019t it the Little Flower who said the good God is happy to look down on his sleeping child just like any loving Father does? I\u2019ve always thought that was rather nice. Now where\u2019s Georgina? I\u2019ll wonder if she\u2019d like to play a game of checkers.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Why, hello my dear! What a nice surprise! Come in, and little Georgina as well! I expect you\u2019ll be looking forward to Christmas won\u2019t you my dear? You know, it\u2019s a little bit early, but I think we ought to have a nice piece of my fruitcake don\u2019t you? We were decorating the church for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mrs-brady-catholic-old-lady","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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