Brian and I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  We hope and pray this season is a time of joy and peace with family and friends as we celebrate the greatest gift ever—the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

IMPORTANT DATES TO NOTE FOR DECEMBER!!

SUNDAY, NOV. 30—NO evening Crossroads

SATURDAY, DEC. 6—Coupon sales at Country Mart  10-2

SUNDAY, DEC. 7—KC Plaza trip

SATURDAY, DEC. 13—Christmas Festival 8-1

SUNDAY, DEC. 14—Crossroads Christmas Party 6-7:30

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17—Christmas caroling 6-7

SUNDAY, DEC. 21—Practice for Children’s Christmas Eve service 6-7:30

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 24—Children’s Christmas Eve service at 4:30

SUNDAY, DEC. 28—NO evening Crossroads

SUNDAY, JAN. 4—Crossroads meets 6-7:30

COUPON SALES: We have been offered a great opportunity by Country Mart North to sell coupon books on Saturday, December 6 from 10-2.  The books sell for $5 each and we get to keep the $5.  One of the coupons is for $5 off of any grocery order of $50 or more and is good at either Country Mart or at Price Chopper, so it is a great deal for everyone involved!  Another church youth group made $1000.  I know it is a busy time, but we cannot pass this up.  PLEASE sign up to help AND call church members you know and encourage them to come to Country Mart on December 6!

KC PLAZA TRIP is Sunday, December 7.  Youth interested in attending this trip must have 500 miles earned with us. Please check with Barb if you are concerned about this.  If you come regularly at all, you easily have the miles.  We will attend worship at St. James UMC which is a predominantly African-American church with a very energetic style of worship.  It is a great experience.  Following worship, we will do some shopping and see the lights and Christmas decorations at the Plaza.  Sign up on the bulletin board.  We will leave around 6am and return around 9pm.  Details will be mailed to those who are signed up.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL is a fund raising idea that come up at a meeting this fall.  The Festival will be on Saturday, December 13, from 8-1. Each youth is asked to come up with something that they could sell.  It could be holiday food items, crafts or anything else.  Since this is new, we are guessing on number of items, but probably 10-20 depending on the size of the item.  Each youth/family can determine how much of the profit to give to our group, so if your project costs a lot and you only give a percentage, that is fine.    Gay Clark and Jennifer Bennett have agreed to head this project.  If anyone has thoughts or ideas, please share them.  There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board, so you can see what others are doing.

CHRISTMAS CAROLING: Take a break from studying and join us on Wednesday, December 17, to go caroling to folks from our church who can’t get out much.  Come share the Christmas joy with them.

SECRET SANTAS: If you are interested in having a “secret santa” this year, please contact Barb ASAP!  Youth Council set up these guidelines: 2 gifts will be given-one on Dec. 7 and one on Dec. 14

                                                                     Total of both gifts will be $15-20

                                                                     Give the gifts in secret (have friends or Barb help)

                                                                     You will have ideas on what to get

                                                                     This is completely optional!

Your name MUST be in by Nov. 30 if you wish to participate.

CROSSROADS CHRISTMAS PARTY will be on Sunday, December 14.  If you have a “secret Santa”, you will give your second gift and then find out who your “santa” was.  There will also be games and food.  Don’t miss the fun! Please bring a “white elephant” gift (something goofy that you don’t want any more) for a fun gift exchange.  Also, please bring $2 to help cover the cost of pizza that night.

CHILDREN’S CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE is a service geared primarily towards families with young children.  We have been leading this service for the past several years and have been asked to do so once again.  If you will be in town on December 24 and would be interested in being a part of this, please sign up on the bulletin board.  We will need readers, ushers, actors, etc…  There will be something you are comfortable doing.  We will be practicing for this service on Sunday, December 21 from 6:00-7:30.

CHILD CARE is needed for the All Church Conference on Sunday, December 14 from 12-2.  We plan to have a room for younger children and one for older children.  The older ones will be doing crafts, watching movies etc…  If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Barb.

SUMMER MISSION TRIP 2009 will be July 10-18 and by consensus of the group, we will be going to Red Lake, MN, to serve God on a Native American reservation there.  Right now, we have 20 youth spots reserved.  If you are interested in going, please get your $50 deposit to Barb as soon as possible.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Dec. 8  Emily Dobbins

Dec. 10 Ashley Buss

Dec. 11 Roger Combes

Dec. 13 Alli Armitage

Dec. 21 Tara McKenzie

Dec. 23 Lorren Mize

FREE LIVE MUSIC: Everyone is invited to come to the church on Saturday, December 6 beginning at 7pm to hear live music by some local bands including Logan Herrera and Sean Richey.  Come support your friends!

*to contact barb:

342-6186 church; 342-9335 home; 757-3240 cell; barbm@fumchurch.org

*I’m here to serve you.  If you ever need anything, don’t hesitate to contact me.  If you have ideas on how we can better serve you, please let me or your youth council rep know.