Advent and Hanging of the Greens

Last Sunday was a special day at Elba United Methodist Church. It was the first Sunday of Advent and the Jackson family lit the purple candle. At the close of the service, we sang one of my favorite hymns, "Emanuel, Emanuel".

We returned to church at 6 P.M. for the Hanging of the Greens service. The Hanging of the Greens is a service for the first Sunday in Advent. It is based on the English tradtion of decorating the home with wreaths, garlands, a Christmas tree, and evergreens for Advent and Christmas. In a church setting, it readies the sanctuary (and church members) for the season.

Hymns were sung as various things took place. There were several presentations including, hanging of the greens, lighting of the candles, bringing in the large red poinsettias for two tall stands near the altar, and placing the creche figures on the altar table. The big chrismon tree stands on the left side of the sanctuary near the front. The tiny white lights were turned out and the many white christmon symbols were glowing with light on them.

At the close of the service, all who were present were invited to the fellowship hall for a youth sponsored chili and baked potato supper and lots of desserts. It was a great ending to the special day.

Celebrating Thanksgiving at the beach in NC

We spent Thanksgiving at the beach in Emerald Isle, NC with several of my sisters and their family members.


Gathered there to help Chris and Al celebrate their 50th anniversary - 6 months early.
They weren't sure what they would be doing on the actual date in July and wanted to celebrate early with all of us there.  Chris made an interesting cake which we ate mid afternoon, after the big turkey dinner.

It was fun being together with our family and warm enough to enjoy walking on the beach.


We also celebrated my 75th  birthday (again) while there.

My 75th birthday party

We arrived at our son Bill's home in Florence, SC on Sat., Nov. 19th after spending the day in Lexington, SC, attending our granddaughter Caroline's Mock Trial competition. Her school made it to the final (4th) round but didn't make the final cut. This was the state final so there were so many middle school students at the courthouse that day. Caroline won a very nice award as "The Most Effective Lawyer" in the 3rd round. She was so happy.

We got to spend some time with the other granddaughters on Tues -Fri. On Wednesday afternoon, they planned a big birthday party for me before taking me to dinner at the Outback Restaurant. Bill and the girls decorated the table and put the gifts in place while I was getting ready to go to the restaurant. They wanted to surprise me; and they did indeed. Even had a birthday cake for the event.

I received two big packages. One contained a floor lamp with a reading lamp, which I had told Jim I wanted. The other package was something I needed also, a new portable mixer and a new can opener. When you get older you ask for things you need to replace instead of diamonds!!

Then we all (6 of us) went to the Outback for dinner. We enjoyed a large blooming onion appetizer and then steak. The waiters came and sang Happy Birthday to me and brought me a big ice cream dessert (which I shared with my family).

It was a great birthday celebration and somehow I don't feel like I'm 3/4th of a century old. On Thanksgiving Day at the beach, I was honored again when they sang Happy Birthday to me.

This year I received a lot of cards and had fun reading the messages in them.