Sunday, December 4, 2011

What does a Catholic Christmas Program and Michael Jackson have in common?

I'm not Catholic.  My grandparents on my mother's side, my in-laws and my sister-in-law are.  I've been exposed to Catholicism most of my life, mainly from working in a festival booth during my summers from when I was 10 years old till about my 16th year of existence.  I used to work for a man named Walter Griggs who always had a hint of b.o. and typically had flem crusted on the corners of his mouth.  My mother and I would work his 'Dog Race' on the weekends and I'd make about $200 for 3 days of work.  Not bad for a 12 year old needing cash.  I digress.  Most of my experience with Catholicism was influenced by all the church festivals that I'd work at.  The pungent smell of that dog race and spilt beer comes to mind immediately. 
This week, my sister-in-law invited us to go to St. Mary's Church Christmas Program.  I thought, well, I've been to a lot of church festivals... So, today we went.  I loved it!  The church was gorgeous, the people were well dressed and the music was beautiful.  They broke up the program with scripture reads and musical interludes and solos.  It was really festive and I think we've found a new tradition.
Yeah, I'm not Catholic and I never will be (I'm a Mormon for crying out loud), but I really enjoyed the Christmas spirit that I felt tonight in that beautiful church.  It was a lot better than one of those polka/beer tent/bingo night extravaganzas of past adolescent memory.  So, thank you sister-in-law for inviting us!  It was very special.

**Side note** When we arrived, they handed out candles for the first part of the program to which they were lit and we sat there by candlelight for the first 20 minutes of the program.  During that time, my son Jude was holding the candle (stellar parenting skills on my part, I know).  He managed, during the 5 minutes that he was holding the candle, to cinge the front part of his bangs, not a little.  Afterward, his siblings, once they found out about his Michael Jackson incident, started singing made-up songs about this hair being cinged on the way home.  Funny memory for sure.
From this angle you notice 2 things: First you notice that Jude's mouth is missing another tooth.  Second, you can see his cinged hairs in plain view.

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