2008 in Retrospect - David's 1st Holy Communion

It seems to have taken me forever to prepare our eldest, as I wanted him to truly understand the significance of the event, to receive our Lord in the Blessed Eucharist, but finally, at 10yo I felt that he was ready.

I won't go into the mortifying experience (for me) of his interview with the Priest prior to being given approval to receive his first Holy Communion (his brain went to mush and I couldn't find a crack in the floor big enough to fall into ... sigh).

However, at the Mass on Christmas Eve, looking resplendent in freshly polished shoes, hired shirt, tie and pants, he received our Lord in the Eucharist.

I think the Priest must have quickly worked out that he needed to keep a close eye on my mischievous boy as, at the end of Mass, he beckoned to my boy to join him at the sanctuary steps in order to process from the Church with him. I had drilled David on all that he had to do during the Mass and reception of our Lord, but this totally threw us both - fortunately he obeyed, albeit with wide-eyed trepidation!