It’s all a Matter of Perspective: A few days before Christmas, I told my sister Jackie about Koueiter Jeweler’s Going Out of Business Sale. I heard from several people just before Christmas that they picked up some incredible deals there. Diana Z. was kind enough to let me know they still had plenty of Pandora charms available. So hearing that news prompted me to tell my sister about the sale because she ENJOYS getting Pandora charms. Once Jackie heard the news about the massive sale, she convinced Lonnie, her husband, to make a trip out there on the Sunday before Christmas. Later that evening at our family dinner, Jackie was chatting with our mom about the sale, her wonderful conversations with many of the Koueiter Family members and the great deals she got on several Pandora charms. You should have heard the two of them go on and on about the great deals she got. I think my dad, Lonnie and I were like three deer in headlights as the conversation unfolded. As I sat and listened to the chatter over the incredible deals my sister got, I eventually piped up, “Now this will tell you the difference between us. I was SUPER-excited yesterday about finding an e-coupon on the Kroger site which got me $10 off every $20 worth of holiday chocolate I purchased. So I went out and got $60 worth of chocolate for the Parish Center candy dish for only $30! Now THAT’s a deal! You got your Pandora. I got my chocolate. Everyone’s happy!”

CHRISTMAS THANKS: I wish to extend my appreciation and thanks to all who helped with the Christmas liturgies and environment this year. The Church and the Sr. Carol Center looked absolutely AWESOME! Please join me in thanking the team of people who showed up on the Sunday before Christmas to decorate, clean, and set up the Church. The decorating team was led by Pat and Sandy Markielewicz. The cleaning team was led by Rosemary Dygert. The cleaning of the candles and the cleaning of the Pieta Chapel was led by Barb and Kevin Hendrick. The Memorial Christmas Tree project was led by Maria and Larry Krzesowski, Debbie and Tim Bigham and Jeanne and Tom Van Egmond, Adele Grady and Mary Garofalo. The pizza lunch we had was organized by Dina Ciaffone and Mary Garofalo. To all who had a hand in cleaning or decorating, I say THANKS!

I’m grateful to Dina Ciaffone, Paul Angst, Steve Angst, Greg Ruvolo, Vern Dave, Paul Csaszar and James Cornelius for all of their extraordinarily hard work in getting the outside Christmas tree lights up on the trees and for putting together the outdoor Nativity set.

I’m grateful to Lorraine Jonas, Kristina Kaiser, Rachel Gerard, Jackie BugarinScheuer, and BeBe Frahm for their hard work and efforts in planning, decorating and setting up the Advent and Christmas liturgies and events.

I’m grateful to John Perna, Ken Madeleine, Eleonore Ellero-Groth, Kristine Hass, the Guitar Group, the Children’s Choir, the Adult Choir, the Teen Choir, the Bell Choir and all of our cantors, musicians and accompanists. The music was phenomenal and truly enhanced our Christmas liturgies!

I’m grateful to those who contributed to the flower collection. Your generosity allowed us to purchase some beautiful poinsettias and plants for the holiday season. People always ask where I get our poinsettias and other plants and flowers throughout the year. We get them from Canton Floral Gardens in Canon. I’m also grateful to Anne Melise and her adorable mother Ilona Higgins for all the work they do in tending to all of the plants and flowers in the church yearround.

I’m grateful to Fr. Rich and Dina Ciaffone who spent countless hours redoing all the bows and fluffing all the wreaths.

I’m grateful to Maria Krzesowski, Debbie Bigham, Adele Grady, Mary Garofalo and Jeanne VanEgmond for the countless hours they spent sewing and machine embroidering the beautiful memorial ribbons that filled the memorial Christmas tree.

I’m grateful to all those who participated in the Giving Tree or who helped sponsor a family for Christmas. Special thanks go to Chris and Marc Mathies for their phenomenal dedication and leadership with the organizational aspects of the Giving Tree.

I’m grateful to all those people and families who helped greet people as they came to our Christmas masses. It was great to see all the help and equally impressive to hear all the positive comments about what an impact it made having that many greeters stand at the doors.

I’m grateful to my team of family members who for the last two years helped placed all those tea lights outside along the sidewalks to create a nice luminary effect on Christmas Eve. Last year we placed 400 little tea lights; this year the count was 800. The kids want to double it for next year. Those candles were still going strong two days after Christmas!

I’m grateful to Kristine Hass for all of her hard work and dedication in creating and editing the special Christmas edition of the bulletin. I’m grateful to Scott our Xerox Tech from Michigan Office Solutions who rescued me a few times while I was printing that extraordinary bulletin … up until 2:00 PM on Christmas Eve (there’s a story coming about this experience … stay tuned).

My thanks also go to our ushers, lectors, cantors, altar servers, the entire staff, the Leadership Team and most especially to Fr. John, Fr. Rich, Fr. Bob, Fr. Jim, Deacon Tom and Deacon Dom. We are ever so grateful for their dedication and ministry. Our liturgies were prayerful and it took a lot of people working together to make it all happen. It was another extraordinarily beautiful Christmas at SJA! THANK YOU!

Enjoy the week. Know of my prayers. Happy New Year!

In Christ,

gmb
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