Candlelit Memories

Last night at Vespers we had a candlelit service, and as I watched all the little candles being lit one row at a time I started to think back to all the previous candlelit services I have sat through. Or stood through, because I guess typically by the time the candles are lit, you're usually standing. Anyways. I have several very clear memories of these services that really show I and my siblings and cousins got the most out of the candlelit services we attended.

Most of the memories I have of candlelit services come from my grandparents' church out in Phoenix, where I spent roughly half of my childhood Christmases. My mom's side of the family met at my grandparents' house every other Christmas, and every Christmas Eve we would all walk the couple of blocks up to their little church where we would join in the singing, and Bible reading, and of course, the candlelit service. After singing hymns and listening to others in the church sing their prepared numbers we would take the little candles we had been playing with all service and watch as one by one, row by row they were lit, making the whole sanctuary look like a little fairyland, with seemingly hundreds of dancing lights. After everyone's candles were lit we would march out to the lawn of the church where we would sing Silent Night and Joy to the World. And then as if on cue all the candles would be blown out...well not quite all. The Finger clan (with all 16 grandchildren) would still be running around playing with our candles as we tried to keep them lit as long as possible.

Memories I have of candlelit services:

1. A random kid blowing out one of my cousin's candles and the rest of us turning to glare at whomever would dare to blow out a candle that was not their own.

2. Using the candles as swords. The paper guards they put on so wax doesn't get all over you makes for a perfect hand guard in sword fights.

3. Trying to keep our candles lit the whole walk back to my grandparents house. (Only to blow them out as soon as we got back in their yard.)

4. Getting wax accidentally on our hands, and then proceeding to cover our hands with wax so that it could be pulled off later (we were weird kids.).

5. Seeing how small we could let the candle burn down to before it became too hot to hold.

Like I said, we clearly got a lot out of the candlelit services we attended as children. :)