That last blog got me thinking about other crazy creative stuff I did for the parish.  It was almost always about the children in those days.  One year for Pentecost I printed up 300 cards, each one had a different gift of the Holy Spirit: Reverence, Awe, Wisdom, Understanding, Courage, Knowledge, Right Judgement, each with a little clip art to illustrate the point.  Then I punched a hole in each one, drew a ribbon through each so that it could be worn around the neck and passed them out before Mass. 

One year Father John intended to tell the legend of the Christmas spider, which you will have to look up for yourself.  It has to do with spiders creating a web all over a Christmas tree which is then turned to silver and gold as decoration.  So…back to the craft store for 300 black plastic spider rings, glitter and tinsel.  I spray painted them all gold and attached tinsel and glittered ’em up.  The Christmas tree next to the piano at the front of the church was adorned with them and looked spectacular.  The children were delighted to be invited to take one home with them.  Little be-ringed, be-tinselled children walking through the parking lot was all that remained after Mass.  

The craziest was the idea I came up with for Christmas Eve 4 p.m. Mass, which is dedicated to the children and which I consider more of a let’s-get-this-over-with-so-we-don’t-have-to-go-Christmas-morning Mass.  It’s pretty much a zoo.  As always, we wanted to have a little something for the kids to take away after that Mass.  I baked and frosted 300 mini cupcakes and each one had a candy poinsettia on top!  It was quite a sight to see 300  cupcakes disappear within two minutes after Mass. 

The more I think about the hours I spent creating things that disappeared into oblivion within minutes or hours, the more joyful I become!  Funny how sharing one’s gifts can do that…