There is so much going on in the run up to Christmas, make sure you've had a look at our 'What's On' page to keep up to date!

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Here's a message from Jen for December and January.

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The jingling of the bells are finally here and we can start to look forward to Christmas! Do you have your tree up yet? I think a lot of us are starting to celebrate a little earlier this year, it feels so nice to have something to look forward to. However Christmas might look this year for you and for all of us, I pray that you are able to find some joy, some comfort and some good old fashioned Christmas excitement during advent.

However, before we jump into all things Christmas, here’s a few updates from the last month. When I last wrote, we were looking forward to our first Happy Hearts and Minds Service. I am happy to let you know that it went brilliantly. We welcomed 5 families back into the Main Hall and had a real ball, learning about the story of Nehemiah. We want to say a big thank you to our worship team, Roy and James, who really helped to make the service feel almost like normal! Sadly our November service was cancelled due to the new restrictions, however we are praying that our December Service will be able to go ahead. If you know any families that might like to join in, please pass the information on. We currently have space for 8 families in each service, so you will need to book by emailing me on jenwatson.stgiles@gmail.com! I am sure that you will enjoy the photo of the lovely Dorothy on our 'What's On' page at our last service as much as we do, she was having a great time ‘rebuilding’ with some sugar cubes!

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We had some photos in of lots of fantastic ‘Positive Pumpkins’ and some sat wonderfully in our little Positive Pumpkin Patch next to the church doors with our ‘Prayer Scarecrow’ that was entered into the Exhall Cedars Scarecrow competition! Thank you to Joyanne Grayson and Gail Gibson for being our scarecrow design experts! She was rather special. Thank you to everyone who got involved with our pumpkins and helped to spread some extra light on the 31st October.

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For Remembrance Day this year, some of our church children created their own poppies from their hand prints which we then assembled into a wonderful Remembrance Wreath! Have you seen it on the memorial?

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In the run up to Christmas, as usual we have a lot of exciting things going on! Whilst some things are dependent on restrictions, we have tried to make sure there are plenty of things to keep us feeling as Christmassy as possible.

Thank you so much to those who entered our Children’s Christmas Card Design Competition! We will be announcing the winner in the first week of December, so have a look on our website or Facebook or you can check the ‘News on the Pews’ sheet that week to see our winning card(s).

A huge thank you goes out to all that contributed towards our Christmas Shoebox appeal this year too! The shoeboxes will be dropped off to the Carriers of Hope warehouse where they will be sorted and distributed to bless hundreds of children in need this Christmas!

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There is still time to get involved with our Gifts and Hampers for local children. All the information you need is on the poster on our 'What's On' page but if you would like to contribute but would prefer someone to come and collect from you, please do get in contact with either myself or the Parish Office and we will sort that out for you. There are still a number of children that need a gift and any contributions towards the hampers would be hugely appreciated!

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Some of the children are busy creating something a bit special this year for Christmas! Make sure you have a look at the church Facebook or website on the 20th December!

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We are delighted to say that we will be having a Christingle Service this year, however it might not be in our usual way. We will be creating Christingle Kits which you will be able to collect on the 23rd December – please check the Facebook or Website for the timings nearer the time as everything at the moment is subject to the latest restrictions. We will be hosting a virtual Christingle on the usual date of 24th December, and you will be able to take part and build your very own Christingle from home with us.

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Don’t forget, if you haven’t signed up but would still like to take part in the Living Advent Calendar, please do! Just choose a day, decorate your window and send us a photo. We would love to get the whole community lit up for Christmas! Sign up here.

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Looking forward to January, we await to see what our restrictions will be. For now we will be continuing with our online Family Church at Home sessions which are available every Sunday through our Facebook and Website and we are also continuing with our Playgroup Sessions which can be found on our special St Giles Church, Exhall Playgroup page on Facebook. We will be planning a Happy Hearts and Minds Session for January too so please watch this space for the date.

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I hope you have a very merry Christmas, and that along the way you manage to find much joy, comfort and peace! See you in 2021!

Jen