So, the final items have been taken from the Bags of Blessing, the last envelope has been opened, and the day has arrived.

Thank you everyone who shared our journey this year - may you encounter the wonder and discover the blessings of this special season.

After today, I am annual leave for a few days, so no blogging in prospect - but I will be back to see in the New Year!

It's tricky doing a Christingle virtually, so we took advantage of an idea from The Children's Society, to hold a 'Christingle with a Twist' - the twist being that we didn't make Christingles, but instead had a scavenger hunt to find something in our homes to represent...

• the world (something round or travel related were suggestions)
• love (something heart shaped or red)
• God's gifts (suggestions included fruit, toys or pets)
• Light (candles, torch or mobile phone were suggested)

There was much ingenuity, and not a little laughter, and I, for one, had fun.

Really grateful to those who joined us for their willingness to join in and make it work.

Today's gift was a tiny jingle bell - hindsight being a wonderful thing, I should perhaps have bought enough to put a few in each bag, or sought out something like the decoration in the photo, as one alone is a bit feeble in terms of jingling!

Traditionally, bells ring out - often at midnight - to announce the birth of Jesus.

And of course we all like songs about jingle bells on sleighs!

Tonight at 6 p.m. (less than an hour after this is finally posted) there is the opportunity to take part on a world wide jingle... see more here

Today's poem is the well-known and well-loved BC:AD by the English poet U A Fanthorpe.

The image is a library photo of a sculpture at St Martin in the Fields church in London, depicting the new born Christ, umbilical cord still attached... the raw humanity of incarnation.

A little self-indulgent, since I love both the poem and the image, but it is the last day!

So here's the last prayer of the series...

God of 'Before Christ', before the 'Common Era', before time itself

God of 'Anno Domini' - the 'Year of the Lord'- within the Common Era, here with us now...

As this Advent season draws to its close,

As, once more, w near the mystical moment that transforms history,

Let us, with magi and shepherds, prophets and priests,

With people we know and those we will never meet,

Walk on through the darkness - however haphazard our path -

And discover ourselves in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Amen

So maybe it is the season for ridiculous selfies?

Today's gift was a gold cardboard crown, intended to symbolise the status of Jesus as Prince of Peace (and possibly a hint at the Magi, traditionally portrayed as Kings)

OK, so it's not a great fit (probably designed for children rather than adults) but I expect it either made you smile or shake your head in disbelief.

Maybe that's not so far of the ludicrous truth that a peasant baby was actually God incarnate... that the Prince of Peace chose vulnerability and powerlessness as the way to live.  Perhaps we shrug in disblief, shake our heads or laugh in derision... but this is the heart of the Christmas story... a foolish God, whose folly is beyond the wisest of human wisdom.