True to form, Resurrection was in full disorganized religion mode on the 24th. The folks listed in the bulletin to serve as readers and ushers were not the ones who were actually scheduled, and our supply was so late – she lives in Hagerstown, and traffic was unbelieveable – that we were discussing whether or not I should just go ahead and do Evening Prayer.
Fortunately, Rev. B came scurrying up the sidewalk with seconds to spare, and all was well. (We had a situation several weeks ago when the supply neither showed nor called, and we had to do Morning Prayer at the last minute.)
We’ve been using a powerpoint system for the last year or so, as a convenience for people who weren’t born with enough arms to juggle a hymnal and a BCP – which is most of us! About halfway through the service, the computer died, and we were left going “by the book”. We started off doing Rite I, and then switched to Rite II after the Offertory. Prayer C, to make it even more interesting.
We do not have services on Christmas Day. The concensus is that not even our rowdy group could get into enough trouble overnight to need the extra service. The last time we had a Christmas Day mass was about fifteen years ago, when the entire congregation consisted of the rector, the organist, her husband, and her parents – who did not speak English.
Eldest Daughter and her family came down around noon on Christmas Day to give us a gift. We had told them not to get us anything, but she said “they’d had a good year” and wanted to give us something anyway.
A fifty-inch flat screen TV! The Squire is in seventh heaven!
We zipped over to the grocery store last night, but other than that we stayed put. The day after Christmas is, if anything, worse than the day after Thanksgiving when it comes to malls and shops, and we avoid that sort of aggravation whenever possible. We needed birdseed, and I’m working this week, so I wanted to get some peanut butter crackers to keep in the desk. Just as well I did, as The Squire packed my breakfast and I left it home.
That’s gratitude for ya!
thisendoftheswamp 
Do you all still have a children’s service now that you have a supply priest? I know that the children’s service was always holy chaos. Yesterday was apparently not a great day to go to a mall in several locations.
We didn’t have a children’s service at all this year, and only the one service at 7:30. Last year we had to import kids from the neighbourhood to fill in.
Sounds like a lot of chaotic fun. 🙂
And you are so right about the day after christmas shopping. I think it must be worse because on this day, instead of buying gifts for loved ones, people are often returning things they didn’t like – a whole different vibe.