Snow, Christmas Cards and Partying

We partied hard last weekend. And by “partied hard,” I mean that we stayed home and Brandon studied and I don’t even remember what I did. This is why I should blog more – so that I remember stuff. Actually, did you know that your brain is conditioned to forget things that you take iphone pics of? Yup, it’s true! That’s why your iPhone dying without being backed up is a modern tragedy. Except… now I can’t remember where I read that. (lame)

Moving on. It was our last weekend before finals. The weekend of the first great PA snowstorm! And the weekend of our church Christmas party! AHHHHHHH.

In our church, we have an unspoken {slightly funny} rule. If you make a suggestion, you get to plan it. If you want there to be a Christmas party and nobody else has volunteered to be the general-manager, guess what, kid? You’re it. And by “you’re it,” I mean that “I’m it.” Because I love Christmas parties, it’s the 2nd year in a row that I was the point-person on the church Christmas party. Don’t go and get super-impressed – we go to a small church in a small town. It ain’t no thang. We’re simple folks who aren’t about huge pageants and plays and events and expensive costumes. We basically like Christmas carols and fellowship and the Bible.
The complicating factor of all this is the snowstorm that I was talking about. We watch the weather here and sometimes church is cancelled. I think we’re all a little more wary of the weather since that time when an ice storm hit on Sunday morning and the unfortunate few who were at church early got to slide down the hill in their cars and into oncoming traffic. Including me! It’s only by the grace of God that we didn’t die. It’s a memory that’s burned in our heads and now we’re like, Is church cancelled yet? HOW ‘BOUT NOW?
So yeah, our Sunday morning service was postponed to an afternoon service (giving the roads a chance to clear off) and our church Christmas party would follow. Except our grand scheme of decorating on Saturday afternoon was scrapped as we all stayed tucked in our houses (I wrote out Christmas cards! YES!). But still…. look at those cool decorations! I didn’t do that. That was all Miss Margie ‘s inspiration. She rocks it out when it comes to crafty things.

Note: Wrapping paper makes cheap and awesome table runners. :D
Also, fake snow is my faaaaavorite.
So the Christmas party commenced with carol singing and little children playing the piano and the Sunday School teacher (Miss Bridgette) reading aloud a Christmas book while children looked completely fascinated – I will never fail to be thrilled with the look on children’s faces when someone is reading aloud to them. It’s wonder and awe and joy!! There was a child reading aloud a Christmas prayer, a homily and the reading aloud of the Christmas story.

We ended with singing Christmas carols. It was supposed to be a candlelight service, but last year we discovered that our building’s smoke detectors are sensitive to candlelight and also, they are interconnected. Meaning, you can’t turn them off… So much for ambiance. Our mishaps this year included the wrong wording on one of the transparencies so I sang one thing and the congregation sang another (oops) and then my music fell down in the middle of the last song. I can ‘wing’ it on the piano for a lot of worship songs, but Christmas music requires much concentration and the aid of my chord sheets. Needless to say, we ended a few verses early (though I’m not sure that anyone knew that!).
I was happy as a clam with our simple Christmas service. Also, happy as a clam to carry around little nieces and engage in happy conversation with my friends and family. Fellowship is a precious thing and it’s one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season. I can’t imagine not having a church Christmas party. Christmas always seems to be about family, and it’s nice to take time to celebrate with our family-in-Christ.