Christmas Preparations

The youth group came to decorate the church for Christmas today in exchange for community hours and free food. I liken it to legal slavery.

It actually looks really good and took us under two hours to complete with only a few mishaps. One was a can of Coke accidentally kicked over in a pew, which the kids called "Clean up in aisle 1!" Another was discovering one of the lambs in the Nativity Scene was missing a foot. No one took credit for the accident, so it is possible it was damaged in years past, but I ended up calling that "Only one wooden animal was harmed in the making of this Christmas display." One Christmas tree ended up being erected in the wrong spot, but it was moved to its proper place before too long, and one kid made herself sick on pizza. Overall, a very successful and fun afternoon.

Last year, just before Christmas Eve Mass, the presider informed me that the Baby Jesus was missing. I sought out the pastor because he was present for the Christmas decorating, and he informed me that he had put the Baby Jesus in a very safe spot. Only it was so safe, he couldn't remember where. I ended up searching frantically in drawers all over the church looking for the most important part of our creche, and we wound up finding him in the sacristy, but not before I got laughed at by multiple kids for asking, "Have you seen the Baby Jesus?" This year, since I'm in charge of his arrival on time to the creche, I put him safely in my office with the clothes Mary and Joseph will be wearing so there will be no Christmas Eve freneticism.

All systems are go for the 24th...