Hello! Happy cookie season everyone!! I hope you are finding plenty of time for snuggly cuddles and sweet smells wafting through your homes.
In this post:
- South Church Holiday Potluck! Friday, December 8th at 6pm
- Parent’s Day Out! (a morning version of Families Tuugether!)
- Program Volunteering:
- Sign up for DECEMBER Volunteer spots <click for info!
- January Workshop seminar for parents and interested volunteers Click Here to Sign up. This is a great opportunity to engage from the comfort of your home- video or call in- you can even wear your pj’s! December 12th at 8pm
- Sundays this month:
- December 3rd: Children’s Chapel for 1st-5th grade. Spirit Play and 6-7th grade classes will meet. OWL for 5th at 9:30. OWL for 7 and Senior Youth meet at 4pm
- December 10th: Normal* RE program day. (see below)
- December 17th: Holiday Pageant during both worship services.
- December 24th: Evening candlelight worship at 5, 7, or 9pm. No Religious Education or morning worship.
- December 31st: Holiday programming in RE. We’ll be making Chili and Cornbread for the First Night Chili sale. All children and youth are welcome!
[*Normal RE program day: Both services include Spirit Play and Theme workshops for grades 1-5. 11am worship also included: 6-7th grade religious exploration and Coming of Age for 8th grade. OWL for 5th grade is currently meeting at 9:30 most Sundays. OWL for 7th grade and Senior Youth meet on Sunday evenings at 4-5:30 pm.]
- Family resources for December’s theme: A people of Hope- see below!
(If you haven’t already, please REGISTER for the 2017-18 church year!)
Here are some more details on the items mentioned above:
South Church Holiday Potluck! Friday, December 8th at 6pm. This is an annual gathering for all South Church folks! Bring a potluck dish to share, take a holiday portrait, sing some carols, chat and be merry! We’ll have some fun kids activities set up for those who come with young ones. Hope to see you there!
Parent’s Day Out! Saturday, December 16th, 10am-2pm Open to children 8 months through Sixth grade, Families Tuugether is a popular program for families of young kids; an opportunity for parents to reconnect and to recharge. This month, we’re offering a daytime version due to a busy church event schedule in the evenings! Parents can go finish up shopping, take a nap, wander the town holding hands— the world is your oyster! Children are dropped off at South Church at 10am with a potluck lunch dish to share (Ready to serve, please.), and parents head up to the sanctuary for a short group gathering before heading out to enjoy some quite time. Children will strengthen friendships, enjoy some holiday shows, make salt ornaments/cookies, and play fun games. Parents return to get their child no later than 2pm. Please note: Families MUST RSVP(kirsten@southchurch-uu.org) if they plan to come to this event, so that we are able to meet the staffing needs. Program is be closed after 20 children register, to ensure we have a safe and fun event.
Senior Youth Families: Youth volunteer opportunities…
- Coffee sale- December 10th, 9:15-10:45 or 11-12:30
- Parent’s Day Out- December 16th 10-2pm
- First Night Chili Sale- make chili (=1hr volunteer time) and volunteer at sale evening of 12/31!
Family resources for December: ‘We are a community of hope’ . One of the wonderful things about theme based church is that there are multiple opportunities for parents and children to explore a specific idea throughout each month. This means there are also lots of opportunities for ideas and inspirations we come across on Sundays at South Church to find their way into our lives throughout the week. This could be very meaningful for your family and for our community. As we explore themes throughout the year think about ways you might take those conversations home to your dinner tables, night time rituals, car drives, and morning routines. Here’s a small framework to whet your palate, let me know if you have any great family moments!
[From Soul Matters RE Packet:] Playing off our monthly theme question of “What does it mean to be a people of hope?”, we invite parents to ask “What does it mean to be a parent of hope” or “What does it mean to be a family of hope?”
A Common Read
What to Do about Christmas? A Unitarian Universalist family rejects, then embraces, holiday season rituals and traditions. By Michelle Richards, UU World Parenting Blog, 12/14/2015
A Book and Workshop
Unplug the Christmas Machine: A Complete Guide to Putting Love and Joy Back into the Season by Jo Robinson and Jean C. Staeheli. A guide to reducing the commercialism of the upcoming winter holidays.
A Family Ritual
When you are lucky enough to see a rainbow, the symbol of hope, take hands and say or sing these words from “De Colores,” Hymn #305 in Singing the Living Tradition:
All the colors, as a rainbow appears when a storm cloud is touched by the sun.
Y por eso los grandes amores de muchos colores me gustan a mi.
All the colors abound for the whole world around and for everyone under the sun.
Movies
Moana, Rated PG . In Ancient Polynesia, when a terrible curse incurred by Demigod Maui reaches Moana’s island, she answers the Ocean’s call to set things right. Suggested for “Hope” by Lynnie Lee, Topeka, KS
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (28 min.) Retelling of Dickens’s Scrooge story with Disney characters.
NEW Movie – The Man Who Invented Christmas, PG, to be released 11/22/17 A British Unitarian ‘Charles Dickens’ writing of “A Christmas Carol”
The Rosa Parks Story Noting her arrest on Dec. 1, 1955
Our monthly church-wide themes this year:
A community of…
September: Welcome
October: Courage
November: Abundance
December: Hope
January: Intention
February: Perseverence
March: Balance
April: Emergence
May: Creativity
southchurch-uu-re.org 