Deck the Halls

I can think of no better way to start the marathon Christmas season blogs than with the Deck the Halls service at church. The Sunday following Thanksgiving was devoted to preparing for the Christmas season. Both kids, along with about 80 others, participated in 3 different services. Practice started for the service back in May. OK ... October, but it FELT like May. It takes a lot of practice to coordinate that many kiddos!! These pictures were taken from dress rehearsal the night before ...

Petunia and her friend Super Star. Unfortunately, this is the only "decent" picture I got of Petunia. She was too far away from where I way to get any good ones of her signing. She was excited to take on the very important job of bringing in the poinsettias this year!

Rowdy was quite funny during the practices leading up to the performance. He would lipsinc the words instead of singing them. It drove Dad nuts. I was trying to get a picture of him actually singing here but he refused to sing until I took his picture!

These pictures are from the sand art done by Pastor Jeff during one of the songs. Pastor Jeff is so very talented!

When the children's choir director told the kids they would be carrying candles down the aisles, Rowdy about flipped out! He was so stinking excited. Ahhhh ... but the children's choir director is smart!!! She made sure they were "electric" candles...

And my favorite part of the whole service ... the preschoolers. There were several preschool children that played out the part of the Bible story (read by one of Rowdy's friends). "Joseph" was quite sour the night of dress rehearsal, which was pretty funny. However, the BEST part was during the 3rd hour on Sunday morning. All the kids were tired and it really started to show. "Joseph" was still a little out of sorts but "Mary" ... oh that "Mary"!! Her head piece started slipping off on her way up the stage; she was carrying baby "Jesus" upside down; plopped the baby on the bench and proceeded to fix her headdress in front of everyone. It was priceless!

There really was no better way to usher in the holiday season than pausing for a few hours and remembering what it is all about ... the birth of our Savior, Jesus.