All the presents will have been opened and Santa will be long gone, but the message of Christmas and the birth of Jesus will still be front and center in Havre de Grace on Sunday when a half dozen churches open their doors for the annual church tour.
"Part of the focus was our desire to, as we put it, 'keep Christ in Christmas, the reason for the season,'" Ron Smith, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Havre de Grace, said.
Sponsored by the Havre de Grace Ministerium, a group of churches whose pastors try to work together, the church tour runs from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 28. Snow date is Jan. 4.
This year's tour includes six churches: Havre de Grace United Methodist Church, St. Patrick Catholic Church, First Baptist Church of Havre de Grace, St. John Episcopal Church, Grace Reformed Episcopal Church and St. James AME Church.
The ministerium is also challenging local businesses and Havre de Grace residents to set up nativity scenes.
"It's part of the whole mix of things. We try and be supportive of that kind of focus and ultimately, too, supportive of each other, the churches, as well," Smith, who has been with First Baptist for almost 17 years, said.
The church tour started a dozen or so years ago, he said, when one of the ministers in town, who had been on a church tour in another town, suggested it for Havre de Grace.
"He threw it out to us, we liked the idea. We thought we'd try and see what we could pull off," Smith said. "It's been pretty neat. For two hours on that Sunday, there is literally almost a steady stream of people rotating in and out through the churches."
The attraction, he said, is probably the history.
"[People] come in asking lots of questions of that nature. We answer questions about how we started, the things we have done, that kind of thing," Smith said.
The same churches tend to be on the tour each year, but Smith said others can be part of it.
The church tour is just one of the ways the ministerium works together.
As a group, the members try to provide worship experiences at several holidays, including Way of the Cross on Good Friday and a citywide Thanksgiving service on Thanksgiving eve.
The churches also host baccalaureate for Havre de Grace High School, the National Day of Prayer and the Global Day of Prayer.
The Global Day of Prayer started in South Africa about 15 years ago.
"We in Harford County have been doing it since that first one, since it became international. On Pentecost Sunday, we get together in afternoon or evening, gathering to pray together and worship together," Smith said.
"The purpose is to pray for the church, pray for the world, pray for the various leaders and the seven pillars of society," he said.
The ministerium includes about a dozen churches in Havre de Grace, though Smith said that number fluctuates as pastors come and go. He added Havre de Grace has about 40 churches.
"It's been an encouragement for me," Smith, who until recently was the secretary of the ministerium. "When I first got here, the pastor of the Methodist church, Ed Heydt, he reached out to me. It was encouraging because I'm coming to Havre de Grace, and I don't know the pastors. Because of him reaching out, I do."
Several years ago, as a group, the ministerium got Royal Farms in Havre de Grace to move its pornographic magazines away from the eye level of children.
"We had written to the regional office, and they made rearrangements for a few years because of that," Smith said.
The members also met with the governor of Maryland to discuss political issues such as capital punishment and other concerns.
Different religious groups have different beliefs on some topics, but Smith said that doesn't become an issue within the ministerium.
"Generally, most people are gracious enough, when they discover a difference in beliefs, not to make it too much of an issue," he said. "There are points at which we agree, at which we work together. Most of the time we are gracious with each other. We are agreeing to cooperate with each other, if we can, and if we can't, we go our separate ways and won't create a problem."
"It's a tremendous group of pastors in town. I learn from them, I'm encouraged by them, I'm built up and affirmed," he said.