With less than a week left until Christmas, congregation members at churches throughout the area are putting the finishing touches on musicals, plays and other presentation celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and the meaning of the holiday season.

This year, children at Community Christ Church on Ellison Avenue in Ironton are taking a slightly different route in presenting the message that Christmas is about selfless giving.

"Christmas in Cricket County" brings two status-conscious city slickers to the home of simple country relatives for the reading of a relative's will. Then they discover the departed loved one did not leave them the millions they had hoped for, they are angry until their country cousins teach them what it means to give without reservation or condition - like the love of God for mankind.

"We do a play every year but this is the first year we've done something different," said church member Mary Williams. "We want people to understand that it is better to give than to receive and that's really what Christmas is all about."

The play will be 6 p.m. Sunday evening.