Kicking off the Advent season

The first week in December was so crowded with major life, community, church, and family events that everything was almost happening at the same time. Today's blip features the Live Nativity re-enactment in front of our church. We are very blessed that our church (Willoughby United Methodist) is located in the center of town where families gather to welcome Santa, pet the animals, watch children acting out the Nativity scene, and enjoy free cups of hot chocolate, as they wait for the downtown to glow with the lovely lights of the season.

Every year thousands of people gather for this huge event to kick off the Advent and Christmas season, and this year's event was bigger and better than ever because we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the traditional community tree lighting. In addition to the Live Nativity, our choir led the crowd as we sang Christmas carols and several other choral groups and bands contributed marvelous music of the season. Santa Claus made his traditional appearance, and the evening ended when the entire downtown block lit up with an amazing (and very loud) fireworks display. During the evening our choir invited the community into our sanctuary to listen to special music we had been preparing for months. It was an exciting and exhausting opening of the Advent season.

The extra picture shows our church choir leading a Christmas carol sing-along.