Another "First Annual"

This afternoon found us back at the hospital - to go Christmas caroling with folks from the congregation. I found out after our singing slot was scheduled that a significant number of folks from church would be at another member's Christmas Open House this afternoon (we weren't invited, which is fine; I'll just have to remember to find out ahead of time when it is next year...) and was nervous that there'd be only 4 or 5 of us to sing. I shouldn't have worried: a group of 12 of us gathered, including 5 children, to sing carols and songs in each of the wings of the hospital. Fortunately there were some amazing voices, so we managed four parts on a few of the old favorites. Not bad. And again it was fun to offer a simple surprise to staff - and patients, too. As we waited for the elevator to take us back to the first floor after our singing was done, one of the participants said how much she enjoyed the hour of carols, remarking on how appreciative everyone was. "First annual," she said. And a tradition was born. Pictures from last night's adventure are on our congregational blog, Rooted. Pretty fun!

Midnight Cookies

It's late. After midnight, actually, though blogger thinks I'm on the west coast, so I still have a few minutes to make my deadline. It's still Friday night in my world... We're just back after "Midnight Cookies" - a high school youth event I brought from the congregation I served in Kalispell. Four youth, two moms and I met in the church kitchen at 9pm and baked and decorated cookies til nearly 11pm. We put them on festive plates, along with some Hershey's kisses and peppermint candies, wrapped them up with homemade cards and postcard sized invitations to the congregation's Christmas services, then loaded the cars and hit the road. We delivered plates of goodies to the local fire station, 911 dispatch center, police station, sherriff's office, and each nurses' station at the hospital (Grant came as our escort, since he's on staff at the hospital and knows his way around). Everyone was delighted to see us, and more than a little surprised. I'm hoping this will become a great youth tradition at CtK - and that next year those receiving cookies will remember us. Too often I forget to be thankful for the folks who work the night shift to help keep our community safe and healthy. It's fun to remember them and try to do something nice, and to do so on their turf, and their time. How often do they get freshly baked cookies at midnight? Probably not often enough.