The Ball

It was a lovely ball on Friday.

It rained like cats and dogs. That was a bummer. There were some accidents on the freeway that slowed things down, and all the vents at the restaurant were leaking rain. In some cases, this meant that the dance floor had water on it. In other cases, it meant that the nice wool suits were getting wet. It also meant that people came late, and had to leave early worrying about the rain.

People looked all snazzy. I did spot one mink coat in the crowd. There were lots of sparkly dresses, ties on some of the men, open shirts on some, some more casual in jeans and things as well, but mostly people looking a little nicer than their Sunday best. I wore a dress that had a sort of 60s look to it, and it was suggested that I should be wearing some boots, but I just can't get my feet into them comfortably. PTTD problems, I suppose (meaning my arches are falling and they can't get up - and they hurt in lots of types of shoes).

The food was great. Delicious appetizers: hummus, lavash, cold cuts, cheese, eggplant, etc. Chicken kabobs and beef kabobs. Cheesecake and various cookies and fruits, yum.
Diane baked a King's Cake, which is traditional at 12th night balls throughout the years. You hide a baby Jesus in there, and the winner is crowned the king or queen of the ball. Dick was crowned the king, and he chose his wife of 50+ years, May, as his queen.

DJ SteVB and DJ Jess did a great job with the music. Nomi and Colton sold ball raffle tickets. We had tons of door prizes and raffles. The karaoke machine did not work, unfortunately. But that was OK, because we still danced all the fun line dances and YMCA, etc. And a lot of people danced slow dances.

We presented the slide shows, which I had been making. Four of them. I know, a little excessive. But only 15 minutes in total, and they do highlight some of our ministries for the people who were not regular church members. The first slideshow was on generally things in the Spring with Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, Easter, Womens' Tea, and a glimpse of Doug on the road, to Randy Stonehill's "Celebrate This Heartbeat." Next, was a bit on the Brothers' House guys and generally men from our church, to Randy Stonehill's "Angry Young Men." (Yes, we were all Randy Stonehill, all the time.) (And yes, we will do a womens' tribute at a future event). Then, we had the pictures from fall, with confirmations, picnic, a baby shower, and various activities, set to "Welcome Home" by Brian Littrell. That was the only song I used that was recorded this century. We ended the slideshow presentation with Advent, Christmas, and last year's ball, set to "Joy" by Whitney Houston, from the Preacher's Wife soundtrack.

Our Deacon Michael and Deacon Joshua presented a very nice thank you to Fr. Hubby, me, and Alena. Fr. Hubby presented thank yous to his Deacon team, as well as the servers and general church helper outers.

The laudate youth did a skit mocking us, as they do so well each year. Here are some of the words I sort of remember from the song, sung to the tune of "Yesterday," regarding their complaints about Lent...
Yesterday
Lent was just a little time to pray
You gave up chocolate and you were OK
Oh I believe in yesterday...
Why we had to go on the Daniel fast, I couldn't say
I ate something wrong now I long for yesterday...

All in all, it was quite a nice time. Diane and Jim did a great job with organizing the thing. Our Bishop Kessler and his lovely wife came, as well as Deacon Dave and Jody Anderson, Fr. Aaron and Lily Appleby with Lily's mother, and Fr. Ted and Edith Sayo.

Our dear friends Don and Angie came and it was great to have them. As I was working on various computery things, I looked up and we were having raffle ticket drawings. I thought "geez, I should be looking at my 20 raffle ticket numbers." I looked at our table, and Angie was checking them for me. And that was really comforting. It's so great to have a old friend around who naturally steps in and does what you need.

Don broke his neck at Thanksgiving in a diving accident, and he was there with his brace. He said it only hurt when he turned his neck. I immediately answered "Don, look down there, a dollar!" but could not get him to quickly look to the side. :-)

I am waiting on pictures, and will post them when I get them. But until then, here are some from the slide show: