Oxi Day at Church

Today after church, the Greek school put on a presentation for Oxi Day, followed by a festive luncheon.  Our Sundays are seriously jam-packed; church, then 2.5 hours of swim team, then a 2-hour rehearsal for Ethan and I.  Therefore, I hadn't bothered to buy tickets for the luncheon and figured we'd just leave right after Sunday School and eat at home.  I broke the news to the girls on the drive to church.

ME: So girls?  There's a luncheon after church today, but we're not going, because I didn't buy tickets.
JULIA: (in alarm) Why not?!?
ME: Well, because it costs money, and we have swim team, and I figured you wouldn't want to stay for the whole thing.
JULIA: But what about coffee hour?!??
ME: There is no coffee hour.  The luncheon is happening instead.
JULIA: But why can't we go???
ME: Well, I didn't think you'd like it very much.
JULIA: But coffee hour is one of my favorite parts of going to church!!
ME: Yeah, but this is not going to be desserts and stuff.  It might be food you don't like.
JULIA: Like what?
ME: Like, there might be lamb.
JULIA: But what else?
ME: I don't really know.  I didn't read the menu because I didn't buy tickets.
JULIA: Awww!  But I look FORWARD to coffee hour every week!

Since it seemed to matter so much to Julia, I went and bought the darn tickets so that we could attend the luncheon.  Turns out the girls were divided in their desire to go.  After Sunday School, I announced that we were heading upstairs to attend the lunch after all.

MADELEINE: But  Mamaaa!   What if we have to eat things like DEAD SHEEP?
ME: Uh...
JULIA: (scathingly)  Madeleine, there's not gonna be a dead sheep up there.
MADELEINE: But Mama said they might have DEAD SHEEP!

There was no dead sheep, luckily.  However, there was also no food.  That is, until we sat through the whole hour+ long Greek School presentation, complete with recitation of poetry (in Greek), singing of patriotic songs (in Greek), recounting of history (in Greek), and Greek dancing.

Before the readings began, though, we were treated to a parade of Greek school children waving Greek flags and then standing still up on stage as swelling orchestral Greek music played from a boom box.

MADELEINE: (loudly) Is this the presentation Mama?  That's all they do?  Just STAND there?  Just WAVE flags?  They're not even DOING anything, they're just STANDING there.  This is BORING.

Needless to say, we didn't even make it until the actual lunch part.  Instead, I wound up taking three doggy-bags full of food in the car so the kids could eat on our drive home.  Getting food into their bellies much improved the moods of both girls, and the misery of the long, hungry wait was forgotten. 

Next time I'm going to trust my instincts and skip buying the tickets after all.