A few weeks before Christmas our pastor called and asked if we would be at church on Christmas morning. I said I thought we would and he asked if we would be willing to be a part of the service. The service was called "A Family Christmas." The stage was decorated like a living room and they asked several families to participate. Some of the family's lit a candle on the advent wreath and read Scripture. Our family's role would be for Jeremy to read the Christmas story. Sounds simple enough, right?
I thought it sounded like fun and after checking with Jeremy agreed to help out. I asked our pastor what his expectations were. I warned him we weren't exactly Norman Rockwell material, but that if he was good with me slipping Titus M&M's to encourage (bribe?) good behavior then we might just be his family.
Our pastor started by introducing the "Family" on stage and commenting on how good looking of a family it was. That we had been hand picked. I thought to myself I've never been hand picked for any job based on being good looking ever....but hey, we have cute kids.
The girls looking all angelic and cute. Notice how I say looking.
Did I mention on Christmas Eve my children were up until approximately 11 pm? Or that Titus was due for a nap? Or that I thought I had this ingenious idea of bringing a basket of nativity themed books & activities to keep my children "busy"?
So, I came armed with my basket...gave a "pep" talk and hoped for the best.
Our pastor had three little brown chairs for our children to sit on throughout the service. (I however knew there was 0% chance our 23 month old would sit anywhere for over an hour...)
So, here we go. Microphone on. Jeremy attempting to read the story. Looking good....
And then Titus attempts to escape.
Faith begins asking me over and over and over again for an M & M. Did I mention Jeremy has a microphone.
Grace begins showing the parts of the story in an activity book to everyone in the audience. So I'm now trying to get Faith quiet, wrestling Titus, and holding Grace's hands......
We survived.....until the children's story portion when Titus and I decided it was time for an early exit.
Thankfully I missed the part where Grace basically attempted to practically crawl in our children's ministers lap to see the pictures. (faint)
Overall, it was pretty much a complete disaster. What made me feel worse is that the other family with young children sat on their brown chairs like they were glued there and barely made a peep. I left feeling like a parenting failure. What to do? First, never volunteer again for my 5, 4, & 1 year old to be on stage for an entire service. And then I gave out consequences, tried to not fall into the comparison trap and gave God the rest.
Aren't you glad our pastor's wife captured the whole thing on camera so I could do the play by play for you? I KNOW I will look back and laugh......someday.
The girls opened their gifts. A silverware set that included chopsticks. Very cute.
The kids enjoyed lots of different treats.
Wish I actually had some pictures of us ladies and not just the kiddos. We will have to work on that for our next tea. It was a lovely party. Now I just need to send the package to China with their Christmas gifts that I forgot to bring to the tea. Hoping the excitement of getting a package will make up for my forgetfulness.
