This past Sunday our church put on it's Christmas program. The morning service involved our choir singing as well as the younger kids getting up to do their special songs. As fun and good as that was the evening program was even cooler....literally! But here's the bad news - during the a.m. service my camera died after 3 pictures, and for the evening events I forgot to even take the camera. So, from the entire day, I got 2 lousy pictures....
And here is our choir - we only sang 3 songs but, I have to say, the most enjoyable part was our Sunday afternoon practices that often led to some pretty silly moments=)
In the town of Hot Springs, where our church Calvary Baptist is located, there is an annual holiday celebration called "Christmas in the Hills". There are different events that take place over the weekend including a tour of decorated homes, a Christmas Arts and Crafts Fair, a parade, a ceremonial tree lighting, etc. Well, this year, Calvary was given the opportunity to take charge of the Living Nativity which, I think, is the final event on the program. The traditional thing they do is line some kids in costumes up on the big VA staircase and sing Christmas carols. This year however, our church took a different approach. CBC wants to reach the community, and in this country how many churches would be given a blank slate to do as they wished in a town sponsored Christmas activity???
So, some people in our church put TONS of work and preparation into what we did last Sunday night. Six drive-through Biblical scenes were put together, props and staging built, volunteers recruited, cookies made, and so that some part of the yearly tradition would remain the same, temperatures plummeted=) As cars approached, the ladies from our church greeted them with a plate of cookies and a CD to put in their car that narrated the drive, those of us who volunteered met at the church before hand and got into our lovely costumes, and the evening began. There was a manger scene, Jesus feeding the 5,000, the cross, an empty tomb...all in hopes of presenting the gospel to our town and that those with the CD in their cars would listen to it again and again.
It was a great time!! Matthew was Jesus in the feeding of the 5,000 while the rest of us were part of his hungry followers. Some 'wise men' had altogether too much fun dressing up in silk and lace, some angels angelic robes were too short, and some little children ate snow off the ground instead of the 'loaves and fish' Jesus and his disciples distributed (any guesses who that might have been?). But we hope that we had an effect just the same! After it was over we went back to the church to thaw out and eat some chili and laugh together over the fun we'd had. We all voted to do it again next year=)
We went specifically to see the horses that were out there and they obliged us by coming right over to the fence to visit, as well as giving us their photogenic smiles.
(notice Alana's "cat mask" which she wore for the entire time)
Until we became entertained with our own shadows....
We had fun=)
But let me back up a little....Yes, it has been almost 2 weeks since her birthday but I've already promised I won't elaborate with a long list of excuses so back to the post....Our birthday mornings around here often start in a very similar way - opening the present from Grammy and Grampy=) Since we usually have our parties later in the day and have to wait until then for presents, it has become a treat to start the day opening just one....the one that came in the mail a few days earlier (and has us in suspense) is often the one that gets picked. So here she is, sporting the two new tops from far away Georgia!
Next on the agenda for the day was a trip to Rapid City with some friends and a pocket full of birthday money just waiting to be spent! A girl with only 10 months left before she heads to college has a loooong shopping list=) So - while she was gone for the afternoon, I set in play some things that I'd had up my sleeve for several weeks. I've been excited for this 17th birthday and wanting to make it extra special for Monica, after all it's her last birthday at home! So, while I dread it in one way, I was looking forward to it in another, hoping that she'd have a super fun day!
The next clue took them to the home of our patriotic-dressing friend where in order to earn clue #3 Monica had to 'gallop' around her yard on a pony and sing "Yankee Doodle". 
It presented quite a challenge!
The winner of that game was Jeremiah so he earned the privilege of reading the final clue....
But we couldn't leave before the ceremonial "High Four" between Mr. Coleman and Monica....let me explain. It's a cruel joke really - Gail lost his wedding ring finger in an accident and has suffered the brunt of Matthew's teasing - thankfully he takes it well=)
The Blue Bison is not that big but we tucked lots of people back in a small room and Monica made her rounds chatting with people that had come.
Here she is with Liz Campbell, her youth leader.
I'd taken some games along to help entertain the masses=)
A sweet homemade gift full of college goodies from Tarin, the long awaited rubber boots (!!!),
