We Wish You A Merry Christmas 2025!
- Betsey Gooch Stewart
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
Celebrating 30 Years Since a Christmas Eve First Date
John and Betsey Stewart are joyfully celebrating a beautiful milestone—30 years since their very first date on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1995. It was a magical night wrapped in the glow of red poinsettias and the soft candlelight of Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver, Colorado, where their pictures were taken and their story quietly began.
At the time, John—a restaurant designer from Los Angeles—was in Denver working on a new concept for the 16th Street Mall called Wrap and Roll. Betsey, whose church home was Saint John’s Episcopal Cathedral, worked for Wells Fargo Bank just a short walk away in downtown Denver.
Their worlds came together through John’s first cousin, Mary, from Richmond, Virginia, a beloved member of the Cathedral who knew Betsey well and sensed that the two cradle Episcopalians might share more than just faith. She was right.
Their first date, held on one of the holiest nights of the year, felt nothing short of sacred—an evening filled with God’s presence, gentle awe, and the quiet, unmistakable sense that something special had begun.
As John and Betsey look back from Christmas Eve 1995 to Christmas Eve 2025, they do so with deep gratitude—for God’s timing, His blessings, and the love that has carried them through three decades. John and Betsey warmly wish you a Holy and joy-filled Christmas. May the light of Jesus Christ continue to shine in your celebrations, your families, and your hearts this season and always. Our love to you all!
Winchester Cathedral Choir sings Andrew Lumsden's arrangement of Silent Night. The Winchester Cathedral Choir is located in Winchester Cathedral, Winchester, Hampshire, England. As preparations for the festivities reach fever pitch, one group of youngsters stay on song long after school’s out—meet Winchester Cathedral’s choristers. These days, there aren’t many ten-year-olds who would readily swap an evening spent in front of an Xbox for one in a choir stall. But when your life revolves around singing at one of the largest cathedrals in the country, the show must go on, whatever the distractions of the modern world.
The Royal Choral Society performs one of the best-loved Christmas carols, 'In the Bleak Midwinter’ by Christina Rossetti, in its evocative setting by British composer Gustav Holst. Recorded at the church of St Giles, Cripplegate, in the City of London, in February 2022.
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