Can you believe we have church again in the morning, pigeons?

My most loving wishes for a beautiful day of post-Christmas rest (or semi-rest, I hope!). I feel a wee cold coming on myself (how many people did I kiss and hug on Christmas Eve? HUNDREDS! I need to learn that thing that the priest at midnight Mass did, clasping his hands on his chest and sort of bowing a hello to everyone — except that is SO not me) and am off to take some Emergen-C. Coffee, too. Oh yes, Lord, coffee.

Non-germy virtual kisses to all! How did you services go? Any wardrobe malfunctions? I used two heavy, blingy hair clips to keep my strands off my face and found that the clips were too heavy to stay in well. I wound up having to roll my hair in order to keep them in. Other than that, I avoided moisturizer and for once my make-up didn’t melt before the 7:30 service.

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I just don’t really understand it. Since most of us can easily share photographs via e-mail and FaceBook or other social networking sites, I say Bring Back the Christmas Card!! Support a local artist! I have done just that this year and purchased my Christmas cards from Martha’s Vineyard artist Daniel A. Waters. Sadly, Mr. Waters doesn’t seem to offer Christmas cards on his website but if you love these, I bet you could contact him and he’d send you some next year. They’re printed in gold ink on thick ivory paper with ripped edges. $15 for six. Not cheap, but these are printed individually and are frameable art.

If you must send out the photo-cards, may I make a plea on behalf of all of us who are thinking this but too timid to say it? INCLUDE YOURSELF IN THE PHOTO!! Yes, I love seeing how my friend’s children are growing up. But darn it, I want to see them, too!! And watching you wrinkle and lose your hair and waistline is half the fun… it says that we’re all growing older together.

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BTFM is a labor of love, and we love it when you love us back.

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I don’t know!

I feel as a minister that I just want to thank the staff in some small measure for the amazing job they do all year. I take the office staff out for a lunch so we can have a bit of relaxation in the middle of the crazy. I shop all year ’round for staff gifts. I like themes (candles, gardening, snowmen, etc.). If I find multiples of something really cute somewhere, I snap them up and save them.

I would think that books are always a winner for a minister.
Who doesn’t love nice soaps and lotions and candles?
My office staff gave me a totally cool cheese grater one year. They know me very well; I had been lusting after it at Williams-Sonoma.
My secretary owns a little general store in Rhode Island and always gives us a hunk of amazing cheddar cheese from her place. I eat that cheese from Christmas through to the New Year. I melt it, I cut chunks of it, I eat it with chutney, I eat it on tuna melts. I probably have three pounds of permanent lard on my posterior from that cheese but why quit when you’ve got a winner?

Gift-giving can be stressful if it feels obligatory. Just give something that you would enjoy sharing with your minister. If nothing seems inspiring, I don’t think any gift is necessary. I know that sounds weird but as fellow church workers, I feel like we absolutely understand that there is NO way we would want to add stress at an already crushing time of year, you know? A card or a hug totally suffices.

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Well, wonderful news! I just received this today from Herr Philippi himself!!

My new book Kopfbedeckungen in Religion, Glaube und SpiritualitŠt has been published recently. The publishing house is St. Benno Verlag, Leipzig. This hardcover book showcases the entire Philippi headwear collection and more in over 1,000 fascinating and exclusive photographs.

Info on ordering the book is here. Scroll down for English options. It is available in the UK through Amazon, and in the US and Canada through Powells City of Books in Portland, Oregon or here.

Danke to Herr Philippi for letting us know about this book, and congratulations on the new publication! We love your work here at BTFM.

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But we’re not there yet! Oh no, we’re not! We are just making the soup from the carcass of our Thanksgiving turkeys at this point, crafting Advent sermons, putting up decorations and planning to meet with our volunteer Christmas pageant directors, bless their hearts. We are GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT, and that is a wonderful thing. However, PeaceBang knows that as we Get Into the Spirit, we are often tempted to don gay apparel that is less than befitting a respected religious leader, so she wants to remind you to please resist.

I mean, this is pretty dignified compared to the really corny stuff, but you get the idea.

HO HO NO.

Here are some old columns on the perils of holiday dressing:

This one’s fun.

I like this one a lot, too.

I’ve got two holiday concerts coming up and a party, but none of those events are church-related so I can just wear fun stuff and load up on the big costume jewelry. For church events, I still favor simply jackets with a big beautiful pin or sparkly scarf or something, nice trousers and high-heeled boots. A nice manicure, hair, make-up, etc. Last Christmas I wore a rhinestone headband that didn’t get any bad reviews for catching the light in the church, so I may reprise that:

If you’re looking for ideas, here are some things I thought expressed “holiday flair” without treading into “deranged Santa Lady” territory (they’re all plus-sized items that you can find at CJ Banks if you’re interested):

PeaceBang always loves black.

If you must do “festive,” I think these two items achieve that in a way that isn’t garish:

I think this would be cute under a denim jacket with a long skirt and boots.

The fact that I included an ACTUAL CHRISTMAS TREE graphic either means that I’ve lost it, or this is actually a really pretty graphic. I can’t tell.

What do you think, pigeons?

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Isn’t it a shame that this frock doesn’t come in Turkey for tomorrow’s festivities? I don’t know why some designer hasn’t come out with an entire Fowl Line…what a sad lack of imagination!
Because wouldn’t you wear one? With a nice apron over it?

PeaceBang is just being silly because (a) she just had a double espresso shot and (b) she has a thousand things to do before her guests arrive tonight and her hostessing duties commence tomorrow. She throws you many kisses of peace as you make your own preparations.

And this, doves: Please don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and either invite someone to your table or ask to be invited to someone’s if you are alone or need to avoid a toxic social situation. Reach out!

MWAH!
PB

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I have had very good luck with this method, only once purchasing something that looked cheap and crappy when I received it (my mistake for not knowing the brand in advance).

I find holiday/dressy items to be impossibly expensive and frustrating to find in the stores, so I browse e-Bay for ideas. This year I decided that I would find one great sequined top to wear with jeans and a blazer for parties and cultural events with pals and to wear with a skirt and blazer for Christmas Eve at church (we have a dinner between services and I enjoy dressing festively for it). Voila, I found this cutie on e-Bay for $12.99:

Nice to have that done. Now I can start thinking about things like Christmas Eve music, the Thanksgiving service, prepping my friend’s eulogy for this Saturday, what kind of stuffing I want to make on Thanksgiving Day, things like that.

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I love the look of choir robes, but also think they would look wrong in our particular congregation. But I’ve wondered if the choir might like to wear simple stoles or something like that. I feel so strongly that they and our Music Director are central to the ministry of worship, it might be neat if there was a visual element to communicate that — and a way to coordinate my stoles with theirs at high points during the liturgical year.
I’ll have to ask them what they think… or if it would just seem too fancy and ecclesiastical for them.

How about you? How does it work?

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