Thursday, November 04, 2004
All Saints' Party
Although Sunday was actually All Hallow's Eve and not All Saints' Day, we celebrated All Saints' at church after the service.
We dressed as our favorite saints (some dressing as folks they wish were saints, but likely won't ever be canonized, since they are not Roman Catholic), played around with saint trivia and told the stories of the saints we represented. I was St. Barbara:
Rich's costume took the prize, though. He came as John the Baptizer. His costume was a mylar silver tray with a head hole cut out. He also had a table cloth, but I don't think he ever put it on. When I get pictures back of him, I'll post them. Our camera batteries died as Rich was taking a picture of the boys. We didn't try to dress them as saints, as they already had Halloween costumes, Dominic was Clifford, and Alexander was a butterfly. We did try to find a Saint something butterfly to make his costume resemble that, but the only one we found was brown and looked like a moth. We stuck with the new color scheme for the butterfly he requested (at first he wanted to be a monarch, he then decided to be blue and green), and were satisfied that butterflies are a symbol of the Resurrection. As soon as I get photos of them, I'll post those too.
Fr. Joe came as "Saint" Clive, it was a great costume, but sadly C.S. Lewis will likely never be canonized, unless the Anglican church gets into the business of canonization. The kids from the youth group did a good job at representing some of the saints we've covered in the series. That was gratifying. One of the boys said he had thought of coming as Dominic Savio, but couldn't think of any costume ideas except for a torn up Playboy. He didn't think his parents or the church would have appreciated that, nor did he think it a wise course of action for him to put those images in his mind as he was tearing them up.
We continued the festivities with one of Christ the Victor's celebrated feasts. The food was splendid, as usual. After we had our fill of good food and drink, we went upstairs and played old fashioned games. We had a game in which two sides took turns sending representatives to capture a ball that was placed in the middle. I didn't get to see all of this, so I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but the game ended when someone slid on the floor to get the ball and cracked her head on the floor. Ouch.
We moved on to missionaries and cannibals. The best move of that game was seeing Fr. Joe slide on the floor to get to the other side. I hope someone got a photo of that. Then there was a race between two people to eat a doughnut hanging from a string from the ceiling. Fr. Jonathan and his youngest daughter are forces to be reckoned with. Rich suggested that it was his work as an Army chaplain that fitted him so well to eating quickly in all circumstances. Our last game was bobbing for apples. Much head soaking and hilarity ensued. We apparently dropped the plan of a separate adult apple bobbing in sangria.
Sunday was also the day we began our dance lessons at church. Several couples lined up and Rich and I began with rumba and did a little bit of merengue. We had so much fun, and Rich and I look forward to continuing this.
All in all, it was a really fun day. We laughed a lot, ate a lot, learned a lot, played a lot, danced a lot. And we were home by 7:00 pm. Plans are being made for next year. One of the best ideas I got from Mere Comments: Ecumenical Saints on October 31 4:22 pm, about a pumpkin carving contest with a Christian theme. A couple of the better examples: C.S. Lewis, the three young men in the fiery furnace, as seen from the inside of the pumpkin. When I was in college we did this at our campus ministry, Alpha and Omega, the cross and such being some of the images we chose. I hope we see some of this creativity next year.
We dressed as our favorite saints (some dressing as folks they wish were saints, but likely won't ever be canonized, since they are not Roman Catholic), played around with saint trivia and told the stories of the saints we represented. I was St. Barbara:
Rich's costume took the prize, though. He came as John the Baptizer. His costume was a mylar silver tray with a head hole cut out. He also had a table cloth, but I don't think he ever put it on. When I get pictures back of him, I'll post them. Our camera batteries died as Rich was taking a picture of the boys. We didn't try to dress them as saints, as they already had Halloween costumes, Dominic was Clifford, and Alexander was a butterfly. We did try to find a Saint something butterfly to make his costume resemble that, but the only one we found was brown and looked like a moth. We stuck with the new color scheme for the butterfly he requested (at first he wanted to be a monarch, he then decided to be blue and green), and were satisfied that butterflies are a symbol of the Resurrection. As soon as I get photos of them, I'll post those too.
Fr. Joe came as "Saint" Clive, it was a great costume, but sadly C.S. Lewis will likely never be canonized, unless the Anglican church gets into the business of canonization. The kids from the youth group did a good job at representing some of the saints we've covered in the series. That was gratifying. One of the boys said he had thought of coming as Dominic Savio, but couldn't think of any costume ideas except for a torn up Playboy. He didn't think his parents or the church would have appreciated that, nor did he think it a wise course of action for him to put those images in his mind as he was tearing them up.
We continued the festivities with one of Christ the Victor's celebrated feasts. The food was splendid, as usual. After we had our fill of good food and drink, we went upstairs and played old fashioned games. We had a game in which two sides took turns sending representatives to capture a ball that was placed in the middle. I didn't get to see all of this, so I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but the game ended when someone slid on the floor to get the ball and cracked her head on the floor. Ouch.
We moved on to missionaries and cannibals. The best move of that game was seeing Fr. Joe slide on the floor to get to the other side. I hope someone got a photo of that. Then there was a race between two people to eat a doughnut hanging from a string from the ceiling. Fr. Jonathan and his youngest daughter are forces to be reckoned with. Rich suggested that it was his work as an Army chaplain that fitted him so well to eating quickly in all circumstances. Our last game was bobbing for apples. Much head soaking and hilarity ensued. We apparently dropped the plan of a separate adult apple bobbing in sangria.
Sunday was also the day we began our dance lessons at church. Several couples lined up and Rich and I began with rumba and did a little bit of merengue. We had so much fun, and Rich and I look forward to continuing this.
All in all, it was a really fun day. We laughed a lot, ate a lot, learned a lot, played a lot, danced a lot. And we were home by 7:00 pm. Plans are being made for next year. One of the best ideas I got from Mere Comments: Ecumenical Saints on October 31 4:22 pm, about a pumpkin carving contest with a Christian theme. A couple of the better examples: C.S. Lewis, the three young men in the fiery furnace, as seen from the inside of the pumpkin. When I was in college we did this at our campus ministry, Alpha and Omega, the cross and such being some of the images we chose. I hope we see some of this creativity next year.
Labels: Church Year
