Fanciest Night

When I was a kid, the fanciest night of the year at church was New Year's Eve. We wore our very, very best dresses or sparkly brocade tops with gold threads and black velvet skirts. It was simply thrilling, not only to be watching a brand new year come in, but even more exciting to my young mind was that, as the big hand reached the 12, it was "tomorrow". Wow! we had just stayed up till tomorrow!

As I became a teenager, the very best of all, though, was that just before the midnight hour, the church service would end. Supper had been at 9:00 pm, and since 10:00 every elder it seemed had had his go at preaching a year end sermon.

Finally by about 10 minutes before 12, the end-to-end sermons had wound down, and a prayer for the new year had begun. The gentleman who prayed, sometimes my dear dad or grandpa, would "pray in" the new year, earnestly asking God's blessing upon the church families. Because these godly leaders were so merciful to us children, they almost always said their Amen and dismissed the gathering BEFORE the clock struck midnight.

This was very crucial because once that happened, the new year's greetings officially commenced. This meant kissing! Yes, at this point anyone could kiss anyone else, and this included teenage boys kissing teenage girls! Every year some brave boy or other managed to sneak up on me and then disappear into the crowd after giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

Somehow, in the midst of a strict church community, our parents looked the other way and allowed us to get away with this practice. By far it was the biggest thrill of the entire preceeding year.