For the tenth year in a row, I have been invited to the Umbrella Factory grocery store in Naples, Maine, to perform at their annual community Christmas party. The owner of this store was one of our biggest financial supporters for our trip to Uganda in 2018. So, the other day, as usual, I set up in the meat department in front of the lobster tank. The party includes free pizza, cookies and cocoa; Santa Claus, sleigh rides, and a Gospel juggler. Literally hundreds of people come to this, and I've always had the freedom to do my show 'uncensored'. I don't go in with evangelical guns blasting, so to speak, but I do emphasize routines and music around the birth and life of Jesus. No one has ever complained.
This year I did three 20 minute shows, and I mixed up the sets so that it would be more interesting for those who watched more than once, as well as for me. Some families we knew stopped by, which is always a blessing. Other families remembered Sue and me from past years even though we might not have remembered them. One dad asked me (on the sly) to pick his older daughter when I got needed an audience participant. Normally I don't make promises for these types of requests, but he told me that for the last two years I had chosen his younger daughter, and the older one had been saying she hoped I'd pick her this year. When, in the next set, I selected her from the crowd, dad gave me a thumbs up. Yeah, I've been in his position, if not the exact same situation.
Sue and I serve in a food pantry at our church every few weeks, and a couple families who benefit from this were also at the show. It was nice to make contact with them in a different venue and when none of us were in a rush and could chat longer.
Even our local minor league baseball team mascot, Slugger the Seadog showed up in his Christmas pajamas. Our paths have crossed a few times at community events (though I still don't know who's really inside that gigantic head). All in all it was nice to be part of a local celebration as the holidays approach.