In Eckleburg's Eyes - 12/22/2008, Part 4

On Sunday night, JTH, ALK, and I drove to Mt. Herman Methodist Church where we saw the church’s youth group perform “Christmas in Cricket County”.

The church is located in Powell, Tennessee, so we had a nice drive to the church. On the way, the topic of KJW’s potty training (or lack thereof) came up. In her job, ALK has trained many obstinate children to use a toilet. She felt she was up to the challenge with KJW. She instructed me, “Don’t underestimate my potty skills!” Duly noted.

After our lovely discussion, we found our way to Mt. Herman Methodist Church (located at 235 E Copeland Drive in Powell, TN). JTH has visited many times as his aunt GTH and cousins TRY and TY all attend the church. We attend their Christmas play each year and it is one of our favorite parts of the holiday season. In fact, the last play I attended was written by TY herself. This year they purchased the rights to a play instead. It was great, but I suspect TY would have written a stellar play as well.

All three of JTH’s relatives were involved as GTH directed while her son had a starring role and her daughter was a stage hand (she has graduated from the youth group). They all did well. We sat by JTH’s parents and grandmother. Amazingly, we were the ones on time!

JTH’s family did arrive in time to catch the entire play but they missed a four-year old singing “Away in a Manger” to start the service. She was unbelievably good and did not miss a word.

The play was Eddie McPherson’s one-acct comedy “Christmas in Cricket County”. It tells the story of a wealthy family going into the country for Christmas for the sole purpose of the reading of their rich Uncle Zeke’s will. The play uses the clash of cultures to accentuate how skewed priorities have become. It also has the group sing a version of the Christmas story to the tune of the “The Ballad of Jed Clampett” (the theme from The Beverly Hillbillies). The forty-five minute performance was both funny and meaningful.

I will give the performance five stars. I suspect I will be the only one to write an online review of this performance, so all critics gave the play five stars! That sounds better.

After the play, all who attended were invited to the church’s basement for a veritable feast. Each family prepared a dish and all of them were great. Santa then distributed gifts to all of the children present. Since I have known ALK, I have visited many a Methodist function. I have concluded that Methodists really love Santa Claus.

After eating and chatting, we hit the interstate to go to the closeout wonderland that is Big Lots! so JTH could select holiday tins to put his Puppy Chow in. I managed to scavenge the entire store in the time it took him to select his tins. It is worth noting that Big Lots! has a DVD section. Almost all titles sell for $3 and some of them are mainstream, such as Superman Returns. Most are not. But, if you are a fan of Jonathan Silverman or Sean Young, you ought to check them out.

Afterwards, we went back to my house where we subjected JTH to Mamma Mia!. (Big Lots! And Mama Mia! have it right. I need to name something with an exclamation point at the end!) Recently, ALK and I have fed JTH a steady diet of musicals. It was his favorite one he has seen so far. He still disliked it but he did not hate it as much as the others.

As I do every Sunday, I ate Everlasting Gobstoppers throughput the day. On this Sunday, I ate the holiday version, Snowballs. I highly recommend them. They are red, green, and white, and they are good.