Good morning!

As Christmas approaches, this week’s Out & About highlights local church services, winter camps, and family-friendly ways to spend the final days of the year in and around Woodbury. Be sure to scroll to the end of the newsletter for a glimpse into Woodbury’s earliest Christmas story!

One quick scheduling note: because of Christmas, this week’s Roundabout will be released on Friday, Dec. 26, instead of our usual Thursday delivery.

Editor: Theo Franz
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Top Story

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Church Services in Woodbury

By: Beth-Ann Bloom

The first church in Woodbury was established in 1853 and still stands on Steepleview Drive. There are families who have been members there and at some of the area's other historic churches for generations. They know what to expect at the Christmas Eve service and probably even know which pew gives the best view of the choir or the quickest exit to get home for more cookies.

Many more Woodbury families don’t have a church home but want to attend a Christmas service or need to direct holiday guests to a specific denomination. 

This list is a compilation collected from the churches’ websites*. Several large congregations have campuses in other towns. This list, however, only includes services in Woodbury.

Highlighted Event

Fun & Games

Fun Fact

It is reported that the first Christmas celebration in Washington County was held in Stillwater in 1841. The story was told by Lydia Carli, who lived in the Tamarack House, constructed by her half brother, Joseph R. Brown:

“Our household at the time mentioned consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Brown and their three children, Dr. Carli and myself and two children. On the bluff back of us were about a dozen Sioux Indians.

“My brother suggested that we get up a dinner for the squaws and children in the tepees, and that he would provide for the men and would invite all the inhabitants of the town.

“Christmas morning dawned bleak and cold and gray. When I looked out, no living thing met my sight, nor did a sound break the solitude. The quagmire now covered by the business part of Stillwater was covered deep with snow, and a desolate white waste stretched away on every side. There were no sounds of Christmas bells, no outside greetings to exchange.

“The Christmas bill of fare comprised pemmican (thin strips of meat dried in the sun), salt pork, black dried apples, bread, coffee and sugar. The pork was of the ‘condemned’ variety. The flour sent to us had also been condemned by the government, and the stuff arrived here in solid chunks, which I had to smash up and sift before using. But notwithstanding all these drawbacks and discouragements, the day and the dinner were merry.

“The table had no covering of cloth; we didn’t use one for the reason that in the winter it would freeze to the table if anything wet was spilled on it.

“But everything passed off pleasantly, and the three of us who are yet living who participated in this first Christmas gathering in this city often revert to the occasion as one of the memorable events in our checkered lives.”