Wesleyan Christmas Coffee ‘a gift to the community’

“Come on, We’re Going on a Train Ride” was a tremendous hit with the more than 400 guests at the Wesleyan Church Christmas Coffee this past Saturday.
    Trainmen met the ladies at the front door to valet park their cars. Upon entering the side door, of the church guests walked along a long hall transformed into a ‘walk along the street’. Strolling by the windows visitors viewed beautiful Christmas scenes from the dream world of the well-known book, “Polar Express.”
Once inside the sanctuary, the holiday designers had painted church windows down each side wall and had battery powered candles on each window ledge. The stage was designed like an old train station complete with a train car, benches and the ticket agent’s window. Lots of white lights and glistening snow covered many trees, interspersed with beautiful red poinsettias given in memory of loved ones. The stage had a backdrop of falling snow that later provided a place to view archived videos from coffees held in earlier years.
The crowd enjoyed coffee and tea and every sweet that found its way to a recipe card before the musical began at 10 a.m. While enjoying their coffee and tea, Leonard Orser from the Woodstock, N.B. area played many piano selections. Guests were entertained for a full hour with holiday music and re-enactments of the days when trains were the major source of travel.
Jodi Peabody and Carol Bates served as the hostesses, keeping the crowd laughing with their pokes and jabs at each other.
Three well-known sisters, Gerry Dunn, Norma Bates and Lavina Byron opened the program singing “Old Friends”. Soloists for the program were Julie Putnam, Carol Bates, LaDericka Sewell, Melanie Burns, Kathy Richardson, Carolyn Carmichael, Leah Bates and Vicki Rowe.
Tom Long from Houlton and now a college student in Boston arrived as Elvis and wowed the crowd with a “Sleighride Medley.”
The coffee committee continued their tradition of giving door prizes and gave away hundreds of gifts. Some lucky winners were drawn by name, others were given a gift for being there for the first time and still others had a special sticker found on their program.
The coffee has become a holiday tradition for many grandmothers, mothers and daughters. Laurie Byron and her daughter Elayna brought a friend to Houlton from Benton where they live to visit with grandmothers, Eva Morse and Lavina Byron for the weekend. Helen Hagan of Houlton and her daughter Mary of Mexico, Maine have been attending for several years, as well. Barbara Swallow was celebrating a birthday and her daughter Allison came from Brewer to join her.
Good friends also get together for this most enjoyable occasion. Friends that are in their 80s and older and little ones just learning what friends are.
Everyone exclaims each year about this wonderful musical celebration during the Christmas season and looks forward to this special time. It has become a Houlton tradition for the last quarter century.
At the Wesleyan Church service on Sunday morning, Peabody spoke to the congregation about the previous day’s event, sharing her committee’s appreciation to everyone that had helped in any way.
She said, “Without the many hands that help on this project, we could not do it.” “We love this time of year and this is our gift to the community.”