Excitement at Church!

Today, we spent three hours at church removing wax from the carpet, and tomorrow afternoon will be more of the same! Tomorrow, however, I am bringing Kittyboy's DVD player. Three hours of him running around today was far more excitement than I wish to repeat.


Here is Kittyboy helpfully sweeping in front of the bishop's throne. He likes to sweep! And sweeping keeps him out of trouble. I was occupied with a hot iron and paper towels, so something had to keep him busy, somehow, somewhere. Removing wax drips is not difficult, just tedious. And never-ending. I think I'm going to volunteer to iron up the wax drippings weekly after church, just to avoid this whole hassle every holiday.
And what holiday is coming up, you ask? St. Anthony's Day! Our church's big feastday - the bishop comes, clergy from nearby towns, there's a big dinner/dance Saturday after Vespers, and partying-wise, it's second only to Easter. Really. Greeks know how to party. And we have a babysitter for Saturday night!!!!
There was one incident of GREAT excitement and turmoil this afternoon, from which Patrick learned that not everything he wants to touch is touchable, and Father learned the destructive power of even the most well-meaning of toddlers.
Father is rather given to over-indulgence where Kittyboy is concerned. Okay, that's putting it mildly. Boy Can Do No Wrong. Naturally, if I tell Kittyboy to stay out of the altar area and his friend the PRIEST says, "Ah, don't worry, he's a good boy," of course the one Kittyboy listens to is NOT me. And who wants to debate discipline with their priest, you know? But really, Father spoils him rotten...
There's this cross behind the altar. Seven foot tall if it's an inch, maybe eight. It has an icon of Christ on it, and it comes out for Holy Thursday. I was ironing paper towels, Father was talking to me, the "good little boy" was out of sight. CRASH. Dramatic, drawn-out crash, and Kittyboy screaming. We came running.
Huge cross was toppled onto the altar, candelabras and whatnot scattered about, and the chandelier swinging wildly! Kittyboy was completely unharmed, but had been frightened out of his wits. As well he should have been, considering the cross is solid wood and very heavy, any number of heavy brass things could have fallen off the altar onto him, and there were heavy glass things that could have broken or fallen on him, or both. The boy is blessed, is all I can say. Father got everything put back up, NOTHING was broken, and I daresay Father may think twice about letting him wander unsupervised. Three-year-old boys don't have to INTEND to cause trouble. They just DO, as part of being three. My guess is one of three possibilities - he hugged the cross (base is unstable, his hugs are energetic), he tried to move/tip it to see it better, or he tried to climb the unstable base to kiss Jesus... that third one sounding very likely to me now as I type it, because earlier in the afternoon he was kissing all the saints in the iconostasis.


Yeah, I think the climbing-to-kiss scenario is the only one that would have definitely tipped the cross in the direction of the altar. I'll bet that was it.
Did I mention we have a babysitter for Saturday night?
EEEEEE!!!