Christmas Celebrations!

Okay, I can breathe now and write up a post. Just finished our Community Christmas Celebration weekend at Roswell Street and what a wonderful time we had!! Great crowds...total of about 2200 folks attended, 14 decisions for Christ, 82 churches represented that came to hear us sing, lots of fun, gorgeous music, beautiful ballet dancers, a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace halfway through the program (one of my favorite moments), and, of course, the Hallelujah Chorus por fin! All this occurred after a very busy week of decorating the church and getting everything ready. We have two 15-foot trees in the worship center plus wreaths, garland, banners, etc. We had completed almost everything when there was a calamity! Wednesday afternoon one of the trees broke...the base, that is. Had to rescue the poor man who was trying to hold it up, take off the decorations, take the tree apart, get the stand to a welder, get it back the next day, tree back together, re-decorate. Whew.

There were 250 people involved in our program. These were banner carriers, choir (111), orchestra (43), children's choirs (70), wise men, shepherds, Baby Jesus and Mary, angels, and on and on. We had a blast! Here are some pics!

Decorating the tree that later broke.  All turned out okay though!

We joke that my boss has good life insurance...he is fearless!

Amazing Grace

We had 16 beautiful banners

Adorable!

Our Christmas Celebration!

Hallelujah Chorus with Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus

Dancer during "Sing Gloria!"

My daughter was Mary again this year with a "borrowed" Baby Jesus...so sweet!

"A Baby Changes Everything"

My boss who puts it all together...our minister of music. Excellence!

 PART II of Christmas Celebrations!

SECRETARIES' PARTY! My favorite party of the year is the secretaries' party. All of us assistants/secretaries get together and bring the most wonderful food. Lots of spinach dip, mexican dip, chips, cheesy stuff, various appetizers, desserts like homemade truffles, cupcakes, cookies, flavored coffees, hot chocolate and on and on. We have fun eating and relaxing and exchange our Secret Santa gifts. Then it's the "white elephant" gift exchange! This can be hilarious! This year I found the perfect gift in a basement closet at the church. It was a terrible painting of Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist. Jesus and John were naked babies. Needless to say, it got passed around a bit. We even put magnets over strategic locations. HA! There were other gifts such as salad flavor dental floss, broken clock, ugly tablecloth, terrible mugs, musical tie, 3D glasses. I ended up with a book called "How Not to Look Old". I do need that...I plan to read a bit a day to figure out some tips on maintaining my youth. Here are some pics:

Our friend Cheryl....she first thought this gift was a garter! She was a bit embarrassed.

Carmen gets the exquisite piece of art!

Magnets strategically placed.

I love these ladies!

Angie's beautiful pink and green Christmas tree! She's a wonderful hostess.