On the Level of Flying Halos

Sunday, December 4, 2011
In which another Christmas concert manages to ignite laughter… yet again…

For the second Sunday of Advent, the little Rye family lit the purple candle. As Judah shared with the congregation, Hesed had been running around the house yelling ‘Purple candle! Purple candle!’ and ‘He’s coming! He’s coming!’. Hesed took his cue then, calling out, ‘He’s coming! He’s coming!’ and took a swipe at the microphone. Puck giggled enough to fall forward a little during the presentation, watching his little buddy from the back row.

Back at the house, things got cooking…
Rose needed some more items from home, and the couch situation had to be remedied.
So OLeif and Francis drove off for groceries, a bite of lunch, and some tools to remove the feet and underframe of the couch after convincing Rose to purchase a measuring tape to measure the doorway. This endeavor took longer than expected. Ninety-four dollars later (due to Francis’ uncanny ability to make purchases without noting the price tag) and the wrong tool purchased, the girls and Puck took off in Dad’s car while the boys fiddled with the alternative.
It was cold and still gray. Parked just opposite the little Pat’s Pub, they crossed the street loaded down with boxes to Rose’s new home.
Pizza and cheesy bread into the oven. And Collette got working on the lasagna. Rose’s fridge housed just what could be expected from an initial Rose shopping excursion: a cylinder block of cheddar, a pack of black label bacon, Greek yogurt, and a box of frozen lemonade-iced-tea sticks in the freezer. She had also bought a box of Little Debbie’s Christmas tree brownies for everyone to share.
The boys arrived not long later with the couch. This time – success. Rose lit an evergreen candle to remove the still-potent smell of paint and epoxy. Dishes were washed. The debatably acceptable water situation was examined…
“Yeah, yesterday Rose filled a glass of water from the kitchen sink and it was fine. It was clear. But then Magnus got one and the water was all dirty…”
The windows were opened to the cool rush of yesterday’s rain. And more boxes were unpacked while the pizzas were sliced on the granite countertop. Conversation and suggestions, the four girls piled on the loveseat.

And then everyone returned for the kids’ final Christmas concert of the season at 6:30.
Puck was very proud to be standing on the back row already…
“I’m a big guy now, Mama.”
And he was looking sharp in white collared shirt, black skinny jeans, and Chucks. With a sparkly gold star tied around his neck, as had all the other Little Lambs.
Theodore and Gloria met the rest of the family just in time for the circus to begin…
It all started with the kid sitting next to Puck who was turning around in his seat on the risers so that he was facing the opposite direction. Puck, who always managed to play Sheriff, couldn’t let this injustice prevail, and proceeded to cajole him into turning around for the better part of the skit between songs.
Somewhere in the middle of the chastising, the heavy Indiana charm bracelet that Rose had given him, fell out of his pocket between the risers. The hunt began…
Fortunately, Puck was prevented from this treasure hunt by being so high up on the risers, and by receiving threatening looks from OLeif who was playing violin and directing Puck with his eyes…
“Now that’s talent,” Loraine noted later.
This did not, however, prevent Puck from noting candy wrappers and other items also fallen under the risers…
“Bunny berries!” he loudly declared.
Then… came the stars…
Stars on sticks painted in gold glitter.
Aside from the predictable light taps on the heads of the kids in front of them, the unpredictable came next…
The little blonde boy on the front row took a sniff at the star…
“Smells like gas!” he shouted.
“No, it doesn’t!” Puck exclaimed back. “Smells like paint!”
“Smells like bad gas!” the kid called back.
“No it doesn’t! It’s paint!”
“Smells horrible!”
By this time, most of the kids were either joining in the debate or sniffing their stars.
Yet somehow they made it to the punch and cookies at the end and the packs of boys running around in the foyer yelling, ‘Charge!’
So the crowd had gotten a good laugh; Carrie’s rib hurt from laughing so hard. And it sort of even topped the halo-throwing from last Christmas.