Service: Christmas Season Recap
(Due to the author being away at Christmastime, this recap includes December and January activity)
The SJMC traditionally sets up the Christmas Nativity scene (creche) and two pre-wired with lights artificial trees near and in the main church altar. Generally, this takes half of one day. Last year the task was made that much easier with a new wooden assembly masterminded by Nathan of the Boy Scouts.
However, for 2021 new challenges were added to the task which made things much more “interesting.”
Three Men, Three Knees, and Three Trees …
Rather than the in-house artificial trees, the Men’s club was asked to get three live trees – two for the main church and one for the mission church and place them by mid-December. In order for the trees to last until the end of the Christmas season in mid-January it was decided fresh-cut trees were required. That meant venturing to the tree farms in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
An internet survey narrowed the choices to tree farms that offered any tree, any size, $70. Steve Conn, Greg Stephens, and Steve Radigan ventured out from the church parking lot one foggy morning and broke into warm sunshine above the clouds near Skyline Road. They struck gold at the second tree farm. Three 7’ to 9’ trees were cut, crammed into the 5’ of a truck and secured for the trip back. The effort took most of the day, but it was worth it.
Some Dis-Assembly Required …
The traditional location for the creche had been repurposed for adoration and could not be used. Other “easy” sites were rejected because they blocked the congregation’s line-of-sight to the altar, interfered with the hall’s moving wall, or blocked exits. A plan was concocted to somehow straddle or place the creche on top of some pews along the west wall. That plainly was not going to work. Running out of both ideas and time, a battle-field decision was made to “make room” by removing three pews. The pews probably had not been moved since they were originally installed. It took some doing.
I think most were happy with the result. The SJMC was because the new creche could be used without compromise or modification. Thanks to Steve Macias, Lou Zenzen, Ashley Weerpass, Dennis DuBro, Gary Dorighi, and Greg Stephens for helping.
Post Christmas …
After all the figuring and adjustments that went into getting and setting up the trees and creche, taking things apart and putting them away went smoothly.
Thanks to Lou Zenzen, Steve Macias, Greg Stephens, and Ashley Weerpass for helping with the dismantling of the creche and the packing and storing of the statues. The three pews were restored as well. With two trucks, plenty of 7/16” ratchet wrenches, and something of a headstart, the task took just 90 minutes.
Note for the next time: the pews in front of the confessional on the east side of the church (south of the choir and organ) are not anchored to the ground and are much shorter than the ones on the west side. This might be a better location for the creche setup in the future.
*Apologies to anyone I inadvertently forgot to thank
Steve R.