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I remember the Sunday before Christmas all churches handed out treats to attendees and carried them to the 'Shut-ins'. Church volunteers put the 'sacks' (paper pokes) together. there was always an orange and tangerine in that sack. since we seldom had citrus in our family, I associated the smell of citrus with Christmas. Most mill workers families were the same and kids loved the citrus.Our home church still does the treats but they are bought from a contractor. I remember the time of putting the treats together as a highlight of Christmas. I am sure things have changes.Question, did/do you give out treats?Does the church buy them or put them together?Just curious... Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

I have packed many a COG goodie bag for Christmas!

Re: We called them Christmas treats

I remember doing this every year growing up in the parsonage.We always gave them out after the Christmas play.Apple, Orange or tangerine, nuts and candy in a brown paper bag. One time we had white bags

As a kid, I remember getting oranges as stocking stuffer. It seemed strange to me since we ate oranges regularly. I guess it was a carry over from back when an orange was a rare treat. That's changed through increased income, and probably from the growth of the Florida and California fruit.In Indonesia, churches will give out little meal boxes with rice, some kind of meat, usually chicken, and possibly a vegetable. You go to church, and it can take three hours for the Christmas event to end because every ministry, cell group, etc. has to sing a song or put on some kind of a performance, and that's after the worship service and sermon. I went to an interdenominational prayer group's Christmas event, which had a lot of Reformed people. Their probably lasted for two or two and a half hours as far as the program/liturgy was concerned-- a little bit shorter than the Pentecostal meetings. After the third 'Amen' everyone got up and started talking. The former mayor of a city who'd got out of jail on corruption charges went up there to speak, and people didn't quite down. The chair announced the meeting wasn't over. People still talked. Eventually, the remaining people spoke over the noise of the crowd, the chair prayed, and people ate at the buffet--no little white food box, and then people were up front still singing after that for dinner entertainment

of course I know times change, I have seen plenty. The comments are the same I remember. I know the youth of today will have good memories of Christmas. Christmas has always made great memories.A MERRY CHRISTMAS to you guys and gals. As you get older the reality of fewer, not more Christmas's are to come. BUT it is a great time of the year to make memories for the kids in any church. God Bless you all as we celebrate HIS Birth. Some facts but mostly just my [email protected]/

Merry Christmas Cojak, Thanks for the Memories!

this Sunday... apple, orange, and candy bar. I've been blessed to do this in every church I've pastored.

I don't know if I've seen the church treat bag, but it seems vaguely familiar from when I was a kid. Special Christmas treats when I was a kid were certain kinds of nuts, including brazil nuts, and certain treats made from pecans or walnuts cooked a certain way to flavor them.I thought I hated coconut untuk my grandmother let me eat one out of the shell with my brother around Christmas time. It turns out, I hated stale coconut, and I still can't stand it, that disgusting substance they put in Baby Ruth candy bars and on German chocolate cake. Maybe I'm a bit of a coconut snob. I like fresh coconut out of the shell right after drinking the coconut water. And Kelapatart, a cake made of layers of baked young coconut with cinnamon and other ingredients is an amazing dessert. it's so rich, you wonder if it is legal to eat it.My wife bakes little cookies and snacks around Christmas. Some of them are okay. It's not the same as US snacks, not as sweet. She and other Indonesians season and fry peanuts. They make something that tastes kind of similar to Fritos to me, but not as salty and tasty. Then there are the little cheese doodle cookie thingies, and cookies made with cooked pineapple. Her people eat rice wrapped in leaves. One kind is smoked, and another kind has some coconut flavoring

I told the congregation last Sunday before passing them out - - (they know i grew up in the COG)Is it ok to give out COG Fruit Bags to a bunch of PH folks??When I arrived here they had done this in the past but the last pastor had cut it out of the budget....not sure why only costs us about $100 to do 100 bags.. Pastor Mike IPHC Pastor