A little caroling goes a long way…

On December 6th, the youth of Kingsway caroled for a few of the church’s shut-ins.  Our first stop was Mary Landess.  We stood outside her room and serenaded her with joyous holiday tunes.

 

Our next stop was special. 

 

We gathered in the community room to wait for:

Clyde Stewart!

 

We spent a few minutes talking to Clyde and introducing ourselves until Scott could bring Lucy to join us.

Clyde’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw his beautiful bride.

We sang our hearts out!

    And they held hands the entire time.  It made my heart jump.  It was the most touching moment of my day.  A daughter and her mother (a resident in the same facility) joined us for the last song or two.  When we had finished she asked me if we were the Stuart’s family.  I said no, that we were their church family.  She sighed and said she wished her church would come and visit her mother.  I swelled with pride and felt sad for her, all at the same time.

Next we hopped in our FIVE cars and headed out to see Hazel.  Her dog even joined in with the singing.

 

We took a chance and stopped by Vera Hammond’s room.  Luckily she was at home and welcomed us right in.

Mildred Ransom told us this was the first time in 84 years she’d had carolers!

 

As we left she gave us some wise advice about never telling a lie!

Our last stop of the day took us down a long and winding road to Mary Ann Goodwin.

  

After a hard day’s work the kids re-grouped at the church for some hot chocolate.  A small reward compared to all the smiling faces we saw that day!

Advent Workshop

Sunday, after the worship service, many folks gathered to decorate the church for the Advent season.

But up first?  LUNCH!  Pizza was enjoyed by all.

Several ladies of the church took on the younger children to make cookies.  It was a phenomenal treat for all.  Kids got to spend time with members they don’t usually fellowship with and were able to form new friendships.

Katy and Anna

Sydney and Elsie

Kelsey and Lyn

 

Nancy and Susan were brave and took on Carson, Lauren, Jared, and Sam.

Kaye and Mason were hard to catch they were moving so fast!

While the children were pre-occupied, the adults started working on the church.

There were light bulbs to be replaced.  They are waaaayyyy up there!

There were boxes to be unpacked and poinsettias to be put out.

 

Connie and Jocelyn discussed how the pews should be decorated.

Then Nikki and Jocelyn put the plan into action.

Aren’t they beautiful?

  

Several nativity scenes had to be set up.

Jim, Jan and Andy had a lot of work to do with the Christmas tree.

That’s a lot of angels to be put on the tree.

 

The Angel Tree for Youth Villages is one of my most favorite decorations in the narthex!  This year my family has chosen two little girls:  a toddler who wants some hair bows and a preschooler who wants a doll.  As a mom of 2 girls  - these items are right up my alley!     

      

There sure are a lot of wreaths to be hung in the sanctuary.

Chris put the men to shame on the ladder.  She hung wreath after wreath at an incredible pace!

See how Chris did it by herself?  It took both Paul and Bobby to hang this one.

Bob had to pull out the automatic ladder to hang this one!

 

A big THANK YOU to all who helped in one fashion or another.  Kingsway looks beautiful!