This month, we have no regular meeting of ECW (Episcopal Church Women), but the ladies will be busy with preparations for the Christmas season.

Sons, daughters, and husbands are invited to join them in packing shoe boxes to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ with needy children in desperate situations around the world. Last year, Nativity provided 82 filled shoe boxes. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to make it 100 this year!

The international relief organization Samaritan’s Purse collects the boxes, adds Christian literature in the appropriate language, and delivers them to faraway places where children may receive no other gifts at Christmastime. Pick up a brochure with instructions and labels in the Narthex or in the Parish Hall. We also have empty shoe boxes if you need. Remember to deliver filled boxes to the church by November 17.

Our ECW also collects gifts suitable for elderly residents at Life Care Center. These should not be gift wrapped. Another tradi-tional Nativity Christmas project is Adopt-A-Family, where we help to make the Christmas of two families in our area a little merrier. Details about our families will be in a future bulletin and posted in the church.

The Christmas breakfast on Saturday, December 7 will be a little different from previous breakfasts, as it will stress a nativity theme, rather than Santa Claus. We’ll have role-playing games along with Bible stories by Father Jim. Bring your whole family or your family of one to join in the fun.

Our Party-Lite evening in September earned about $200 for our church. Part will go to outreach, and part will purchase tablecloths for our new round tables. Party-Lite is a company that makes high-quality candles that don’t drip or burn crooked, along with candleholders and accessories, and sells them by the party plan. Our own Dena Humpreville, who represents the company in this area, arranged this party as a fundraiser. Everyone enjoyed great refreshments and laughed when Eliz Teahan, who had loudly proclaimed that she never wins anything, won the raffle, and then again later when she also won the door prize!