TELEPHONE LULLABY

Christmas Eve is almost over. In fact, for some of you -- depending upon where you live -- it may already be Christmas Day. If so, Merry Christmas!

I was going to blog earlier in the day, but all I could think of was "Bah, Humbug!" And a Pet Peeve. Neither one, I decided was appropriate for Christmas Eve Day, so I thought I'd bypass the blog another day. Until the Christmas Eve service, that is. I just HAVE to tell you what happened. It was hilarious. At least, now that it's over, it was hilarious!

You see, the Christmas Eve service was what had me in a "Bah, Humbug" mood. Whoever heard of having a Christmas Eve service at six p.m.? 11:00 p.m., yes! That wouldn't bother me. But 6:00 p.m???? And my husband and I, who were participating in the service, had to be at the church by 5:00 p.m. which made it worse yet. When could we have a nice Christmas Eve dinner? Prior to 5:00 p.m. would be too early. By the time the service was over at 7:00 p.m. it would be too late to come home and prepare a special holiday meal. And no use to hunt for a restaurant that would be open that late on Christmas Eve, so we thought. So that's what comprised my Pet Peeve/Bah, Humbug mood!

But what's this Telephone Lullaby all about? Rex and I were scheduled to play a piano duet, A Christmas Lullaby, a medley of Christmas carols. I set the mood by playing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" as a piano solo. Then Rex joined me and together we played "Silent Night" followed by three different tunes of "Away In A Manger." I let Rex take the lead while I endeavored to add the "extras" to make it sound like a music box.

We were next to last on the program. In the meantime, the pianist for the Praise and Worship Band accompanied two flautists in a beautiful rendition of "O Holy Night." Later on, he and his daughter sang a vocal duet while he played the piano.

As Rex and I seated ourselves at the piano, I noticed that John, the other pianist, had left a big bottle of GatorAde sitting on the piano--on the side away from the audience. I glimpsed a small, black object in front of the GatorAde and fleetingly thought it was his billfold. I wasn't concerned for I knew he'd get it after the program.

Just as Rex and I got a good start on "Silent Night," I heard background music coming from somewhere and wondered why no one did anything about it. The music didn't exactly clash with what we were playing, but it sure didn't match! They must be playing in the Key of C, too, I thought, as that's what we were playing in. Then I realized it was someone's cell phone ringing with a music tune and wondered who was stupid enough to leave a cell phone turned on during a Christmas Eve service! As the ringing continued, it hit me -- that was NOT John's billfold lying on the piano. You guessed it -- it was his cellphone, and that cellphone was giving Rex and me some competition. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw John get up from his seat in the back of the sanctuary, walk down the aisle, and up on the platform. He scooted in behind us, reached around me, grabbed his phone and shut it off! Bet his face was crimson as he faced the congregation to return to his seat! How the audience could keep from laughing, I'll never know. But I didn't hear a peep! They were probably too embarrassed for John.

Know what? Rex and I never missed a beat! We kept right on playing. In fact, Rex told me later he never saw John come up on the platform beside us and grab his phone!

And that never-to-be-forgotten incident got me out of my "Pet Peeve/Bah, Humbug" mood!

Preacher's Kid
P.S. We drove around and looked at Christmas lights after the service and discovered that Shari's Restaurant was open. Were they ever crowded! But we had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner.