The Greens Are Hung

From childhood on, one of my favorite occasions at my church is what we call the Hanging of the Greens, the day (or evening) when we decorate the church for Christmas.  From childhood all the way through my 40s, we decorated the church's Sunday School rooms and Sanctuary on the evening of the first Sunday in Advent.  It'd all start with a potluck dinner, followed by decorating, then gathering in the Sanctuary to hear a story, sing carols and enjoy the beautifully lit Christmas tree.  In recent years, we've revised our Hanging of the Greens celebration a few times and this year was no exception.  The event was done during the 9AM Sunday School hour of the first Sunday in Advent.  It was a merry mix of children, youth and adults putting up lights and ornaments on trees and affixing evergreen wreaths with silver bows to the railings of our Sanctuary's balcony.  Everything was very festive and it was fun to watch the multiple generations working side by side to make the church lovely and bright for the holidays.  Somewhere in all of the merriment, I was once again a little girl, feeling the excitement of seeing our church transformed.  A beautiful sight to behold no matter what my age.