Being forced to limit the numbers of people in church buildings didn’t stop us from having various carol services. One of my churches has been holding outside services for a few months now and so it was nothing new for them to have the Christingle service in the church car park. However, it was new for another of my churches to hold a Drive-in Carol Service in the local football club car park.
I delegated the organising and leading of it to my colleague, our curate, Garry. I enjoyed distributing some free HOPE magazines, welcoming people and saying the opening prayer and closing blessing.
We even managed to get a guest appearance from Santa. He is an annual visitor to our Christmas Fair which of course didn’t happen this year, and had been missed by the children. He normally has a grotto in the bell tower. His elf helpers distributed mince pies, mulled wine and sweets to the congregation gathered in their cars. They also did a drive round the village later that week to say hello to the children.
The other great idea that one of my church wardens had was to give out bags of goodies to families or people on their own. I enjoyed being part of the team delivering them and donned a festive hat. The bags contained festive food and were sponsored partly by Tesco and partly by a donation from JCB.
This ends my review of Christmas 2020. I just need to make a note to self to buy myself a proper Santa hat for next Christmas. I borrowed a hat for giving the bags out, but needed to quickly improvise one for the drive in carol service. I had a Bah Humbug one in my stash which I quickly converted to be more festive by sewing some red tinsel on. It hides the Bah Humbug….. but the writing is still there – it isn’t taken away. And the converted hat will now be put away until used as a sermon illustration, which is why I bought the black hat in the first place a few years ago.
Elizabeth Jones' Diary 