Christmas Memories from Autom

First we need to remember that the 12 days of Christmas are after Christmas, not during Advent.  Because of that knowledge, our family leaves Christmas decorations up until after the Feast of the Epiphany.

A couple of years ago, a neighbor asked me if my family was Catholic, since we still had our Christmas lights up and it was the beginning of January.  Yes, I answered her.  She then told me she was also Catholic. 

Since I work part time at the church and teach Sunday School, I wondered why I had never seen them.  So I asked if she attended Mass.  No, they hadn't been in a long time.  In fact their youngest child hadn't been Baptized and he was old enough to be receiving his First Communion.

So for the next few weeks, whenever I saw her, I invited her to Mass.  I told her she could come with me or she could come and sit with our family. I gave her children small prayer books. I talked to her about Confession. In essence I did everything I could to welcome her back to church.

It took a while.  But within the year, her family was attending Mass and her children were going to Sunday School.  She and her husband attended classes so they could have their son baptized.  And when they were ready, they asked me to be his Godmother.

Now, the children have received their Sacraments, the family attends Mass and my neighbor and friend now teaches Sunday School.  All because we keep our Christmas lights up.