A Christmas Story, Chapter 2

Sunday was a busy day, as it usually is in Eldo. We churched in the morning, and in lieu of leaving him in the capable hands of the MHC nursery workers, we decided to keep him in the sanctuary and pray that he wouldn't disrupt the service. He had just woken up from a nap and we knew he wouldn't sleep, so the challenge was to keep him happy enough that he wouldn't fuss but not so happy that he would be shrieking in jubilation. We gave him his raspberry and let him go to town, and to everyone's surprise, he hardly made a peep. The congregation could not believe that he stayed quiet the whole time. What a good, well behaved boy we have!

After the service we made our usual rounds to visit everyone we knew, aka the entire MHC congregation. We introduced Alex to Ethan Cheshier, a spirited two year old who belongs to our friends Jacob and Kelly. Ethan has a little sister, nine month old Sadie, so he was well aware of how to entertain an infant. He kept bending over and putting his head down, then Alex would reach out and grab Ethan's head with his hands. Alex is pretty much fascinated by people in general, but he has demonstrated a distinct partiality to other kids. Needless to say, he and Ethan hit it off.

After church, we went to the ever-popular Papa Poblano's for lunch. It is kind of like Eldo's version of La Huerta (a NW Arkansas fave) - cheap but delicious Mexican cuisine. Let me put it this way - if you are looking for an Evans, chances are you will find one (or three) there. In fact, I'm kind of surprised they haven't named an entree after Leah yet. Like "Quesa-leah's". Anyway, poor A was pooped and in need of a good nap, so we inhaled our fajitas and took him home to get rested for that night's Candlelight Communion service.

When Timothy was a teenager, he was a member of a gospel quartet called Rock Solid, along with Seth, Jacob, and Scott Cooley. The group split in 1997, citing "creative differences", although everyone knew that Seth's chocolate addiction was really to blame. (Check out Rock Solid's E! True Hollywood Story this Thursday at 10/9c for the gruesome details). The group decided to forgive past indiscretions in order to perform together at Sunday's Candlelight Communion. It was a reunion concert of sorts, and we were all very excited to see them back together, if only for one night.

Alex was such a good boy in church that morning that we decided to push our luck and bring him into the evening service so that he could hear his daddy sing. Grammy sat with him on the end of the aisle in case a mad dash into the hallway was necessary, but once again, he impressed us with his stellar behavior. He was riveted when his daddy started singing, and started at him, wide-eyed and awed. They performed beautiful renditions of The First Noel and Silent Night, which brought many audience members to tears, including Alex's Grammy. Who can blame her? Her baby boy was back on stage, and his baby boy was watching him sing. It was a weird "past meets present" thing that left us all kind of emotional.

Holding flaming things and holding Alex are mutually exclusive acts in my opinion, so Grammy had to decide which she wanted to do when it came time for the "candlelight" portion of the "Candlelight Communion". I'm sure you can guess which one she chose...

It was a beautiful service followed by a dessert party in the Fellowship Hall. Knowing that I would be imbibing (in sweets, that is) in the days to follow, I resisted temptation and forwent tasting each and every dessert on the table (like I would normally do). Alex also resisted the wide array of cakes and pies, cobblers and puddings, cookies and candies, although he did attempt to snag a couple of peppermints off of the table when we weren't looking. Fortunately, his effort was thwarted by Mamaw Evans, who told him "I don't think your Mama would want you to have that." Right on, Mamaw.

So he didn't get his hands on any sweets, unless you count Amanda and Scott Cooley's precious nine month old, Rebekah. Alex seemed to be quite enamored of her, and she of him. They make a lovely couple, don't you think? Too bad Alex isn't allowed to date until he's sixteen. Or until he can walk a girl to her front door. Whichever comes first...