Christingles and Choir Moms

It was a dark and stormy night... well, actually it still is but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The day started out calm enough and dry enough that I left the old Eddie Bauer rain shell (a necessity here in the Pacific Northwet) at home. During the morning service the rain set in, and wind. I don't remember the lights flickering at all, but some do. Anyway, by the time we left the church it was raining fairly hard, and on the way home I saw the winds were picking up again. This was odd because I hadn't seen it in the weather forecasts, but there it was... bits of trees flying out.

I wasn't the only one to find this ominous. Shortly after I got home and turned on the computer, preparing to post some pictures to the blog (and relax a bit), Fr. Daniel called and said the lights were flickering -- could we do something about the generator? I'd had an idea, so I shut down the computer and headed into town. Home Depot, as I feared, had been cleaned out of everything related to emergency power; after some discussions with the clerk we were on to Plan B --lights, organ and no heat-- in case the power went out again. So I headed back to the house (watching the tall trees so common here wave in the wind), got some extension cords and a few other items and headed back to the church, buying a couple of items including a work light on the way.

At the church, I found I had to assemble the work light. No big deal, really, but if your preparations for Christmas include anything like this photo, something is wrong! Then I had to figure out how to run extension cords to power things without having people trip over them... and then to put everything away out of sight but situated so we could pull it all out and hook it up in a minute or two.

So far it's not been needed. The 5:30 Evensong service went splendidly, with fine performances by the Girls' Choir. joined by the Choir Moms for "Away in a Manger." A full house, and not one flicker of light.

Then the Christingles (a tradition at St. Bartholomew's for several years now) were passed out to the children, followed by more carols.

It's back off to the church in a couple of hours for Midnight Mass. Because it's continuing to be a very dark and stormy night, I just pray the lights will stay on.

If not, it'll still be a step up from our very first service in this building. That took place on Christmas Eve, 1986; we sat on folding chairs amidst the plaster dust, wearing heavy coats because it was bitter cold and we had neither electricity nor heat. (And at 3PM because the fire marshal would not let us use candles.)

Merry Christmas, all!

(Update: Generator! I forgot to mention the generator!! Thanks to one parishioner who obtained one "out of the box" from his employer, contributions of funds by several parishioners, and a transfer switch from another parishioner, we'll soon have a generator installed -- without a penny from the church's budget. Such gifts!)