Chatbug Karen

Today will be a day to keep busy. I am finishing up laundry and hope to sew a little. Tonight we will attend our Christmas Eve service at church.

Our church is beautifully decorated and even more so when you see it in the evening light. The white lights entwined in the greenery sparkle and glow. The Christmas tree was decorated by the children of our church and is also very pretty.

Perhaps, after Christmas, we will check into Myrtle beach vacation packages but for now, I am enjoying the snow and the festivities of the holiday.

There is a house near us that has a splendid Christmas display every year. They have a circular driveway that affords everyone the chance to drive up, look into their windows and see the beautiful decorations. They have a snow village that is quite large. It even has a train that runs through it. Their yard has large nutcracker men and carolers. We always roll down our windows so we can hear the carolers sing. It is fun and amazing.

Here are a few traditions followed in different parts of the world.

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The idea that animals have the power of speech at midnight on Christmas Eve. This superstition exists in various parts of Europe, and no one can hear the beasts talk with impunity.
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There is also a French belief that on Christmas Eve, while the genealogy of Christ is being chanted at the Midnight Mass, hidden treasures are revealed.
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In Russia all sorts of buried treasures are supposed to be revealed on the evenings between Christmas and the Epiphany, and on the eves of these festivals the heavens are opened, and the waters of springs and rivers turn into wine.
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Christians in China call Christmas Sheng Dan Jieh, which means Holy Birth Festival. They decorate their homes with evergreens, posters, and bright paper chains. The family puts up a Christmas tree, called “tree of light,” and decorates it with beautiful lanterns, flowers, and red paper chains that symbolize happiness. They cut out red pagodas to paste on the windows, and they light their houses with paper lanterns, too.
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Christmas in Iceland is an interesting experience as this country has many old traditions for celebrating Christmas. Expect no fewer than 13 Icelandic Santa Clauses! In Iceland, they are called jólasveinar (“Yuletide Lads”; singular: jólasveinn). Their parents are Grýla, a mean old woman who drags off naughty children, and Leppalúði, who is not as mean. The origin of these “Santas” is centuries old, and each has its own name, character and role.
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In Congo in Africa, a group is designated just to prepare the annual Christmas pageant. In the Christmas morning, African people and groups of carolers walk around the village and sing Christmas carols. They then go to home to wear festive clothes and take love offerings for Jesus to the special service that is held at the house of worship. In the church, the birthday of Jesus is celebrated and people keep their gifts upon the raised platform near the Communion table. After the service, people invite friends to Christmas dinners arranged in front of their homes.

Having just gone through the joy of experiencing our son and new daughter in-law’s wedding, I find myself drawn to links where weddings are the topic. I recently discovered this wedding video where the wedding party entered the sanctuary in a most unconventional manner. I think it is disrespectful and I am shocked that the minister allowed it to take place.

What do you think?

It seemed like we spent most of our day at church today. After the regular service, we ate potluck in honor of a friend. She is our church’s janitor and, after 28 years, she is retiring. I got caught up with baby announcements, divorces and engagements! We need to have more potluck dinners so I can keep up with everyone.

Tonight we went to our church’s reception hall and did a little dancing! Well, we danced one dance. Our church hosted a performance by a jazz quartet in order to raise money for our local youth. It was fun and of course we got to eat again.

Sad news for the guys but good news for bunnies.

Every February, my dh goes to our church to fry up rabbit for the men’s annual rabbit dinner. The guys have a great time goofing off and cooking. They rarely get together just for fun and so they catch up on fishing tales and the latest news. The menu is always the same, fried rabbit, mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits and brownies. The ladies have a dinner at a different location and then we join the guys in the sanctuary for entertainment. The entertainment varies. Last year it was Dueling pianos.

This past year, the guys made their own brownies where in the past I made them. Last year I made 250 3″ brownies for the rabbit dinner. Our church bought the old fire station in our town and did a huge renovation to it. It has a state of the art kitchen. I made the brownies in that kitchen. It went so fast because they have a huge kitchen-aid mixer. The baking sheets are twice the size of mine and the oven bakes 10 trays at a time! I baked 5 trays of brownies at one time!

When my husband finished cooking for the dinner this year, he came home and plopped down onto the couch. He was so tired. He and two other men did the majority of the work for the dinner this year. They have decided that they are getting too old to spend a day cooking. This was the last year for the rabbit supper.

Photo from www.handmanufacture.info

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned
to their first ministry, to reopen a church
in Brooklyn , arrived in early October
excited about their opportunities. When they saw
their church, it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything
done in time to have their first service
on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc.,
and on December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.

On December 19 a terrible tempest – a driving
rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days.

On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church.
His heart sank when he saw that the roof had
le aked, causing a large area of plaster about
20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just
behind the pulpit, beginning about head high.

The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor,
and not knowing what else to do but postpone
the Christmas Eve service, headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was
having a flea market type sale for charity so he
stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth
with exquisite work, fine colors and a Cross
embroidered right in the center. It was just
the right size to cover up the hole in the front
wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

By this time it had started to snow. An older
woman running from the opposite direction was
trying to catch the bus.. She missed it. The pastor
invited her to wait in the warm church for
the next bus 45 minutes later.

She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor
while he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put
up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor
could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and
it covered up the entire problem area.

Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
aisle. Her face was like a sheet.. ‘Pastor,’
she asked, ‘where did you get that tablecloth?’
The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check
the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG
were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the
woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria .

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor
told how he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The
woman explained that before the war she and
her husband were well-to-do people in Austria .
When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave.
Her husband was going to follow her the next week.
He was captured, sent to prison and never saw her
husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth;
but she made the pastor keep it for the church..
The pastor insisted on driving her home, that
was the least he could do.. She lived on the other
side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn
for the day for a housecleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas
Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the
spirit were great. At the end of the service, the
pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door
and many said that they would return..
One older man, whom the pastor recognized
from the neighborhood continued to sit in one of the
pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he
wasn’t leaving.

The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on
the front wall because it was identical to one
that his wife had made years ago when
they lived in Austria before the war and how
could there be two tablecloths so much alike.

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he
forced his wife to flee for her safety and he was
supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and
put in a prison.. He never saw his wife or his home

again all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to
take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten
Island and to the same house where the pastor
had taken the woman three days earlier.

He helped the man climb the three flights of
stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on
the door and he saw the greatest Christmas
reunion he could ever imagine.

True Story – submitted by Pastor Rob Reid