memories

 A cold Christmas Eve memory

    I know, it is not Christmas Eve.  Yet.

    Jackie and I attend the Episcopal Church....we have since we got married.  Since covid, and her mobility, we have not attended very often.  I do Zoom church, but not often enough.

    I miss attending in person.  I miss the atmosphere, the people, I miss going.  We have discovered it takes almost 2 hours for Jackie to get ready in the morning.  That means for a 10:30 service, we have to be up about 7:15 to shower, get dressed, eat and leave in time to get to DeKalb.

    But tomorrow?  It is a 7 p.m. service, but I am just not sure.  It is pretty dang cold.  Getting her in and out of the car in that cold could be a challenge.  So we will probably Zoom church. I am not happy about it, but at our age we need to be safe.

    So....the memory.

    We used to attend St. Jude's Episcopal Church in Rochelle.  It was on 10th Avenue by Cooper Park.  Another faith now has that church.

    We used to have a midnight mass, or maybe 11 p.m., whatever.  It was late.

    One year there was a church supper/party before mass at a fellow parishoner's house.

    It was bitter cold.  And windy.

    Jackie and I only had Julia at this point.  We were young.  There were things in life we did not know.

    We volunteered to bring pointsettias for mass.  I think we had 4 or 5 plants. 

    I did not want to leave the party, drive back across town, get the plants and then drive back to church, so I put the plants in the car.  And we went to the party.

    Four hours later we all left and headed over to the church.

    Now, it was crazy cold.  Crazy.  Maybe even colder then now.

    Jackie took Julia into church and I carried in the plants, placing them around the alter.

    The church looked beautiful.  It was a simple, country church.  The flowers and candles and tree and wreaths all gave it a warm, cozy, Christmas feeling.  As it should.

    We went up to communion and we kneeled on the side near our plants.  As we were kneeling, I saw a leaf fall of one that I knew we brought.  Then another.  And another.

    Before long there were piles of leaves around the plants we brought and for some unknown reason, I started to laugh.   Not giggle.  Laugh.  Jackie kept poking me, but she was giggling too.  The rest of the people just looked at me like I was a wacko.

    I had no idea the plants would freeze that quickly.   And when they thawed, they dropped all their leaves.  All of them.  

    Years later I bought a pointsettia in a flower shop and the clerk asked me if I was going straight home.  I said no, I had some shopping to do.  She said shop, then come back and get the plant because if you leave it more than 15 minutes in a freezing car, you would kill it.

    I thanked her, but told her she was a few years to late with that information.

    Stay warm.  And Happy Christmas Eve Eve.

Peace and Love