OGDENSBURG — As the sounds of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" wafted through the church Sunday, members scurried around, checking light strands, hanging garlands and putting a tree together.

The First United Methodist Church of Ogdensburg is preparing for the Christmas season, this year with an added incentive to make sure everything looks good.

The church will be featured in the Holiday House Tour on Dec. 14, co-sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and the Garden Club. This year is the first time the church will be a part of the tour, but celebrating the birth of Jesus is what really matters to the church and its members.

"We want the focus to be on Christ; that's why we put the crèche where everybody can see it," the Rev. Nora M. Jerzak said. "We wait in anticipation for the day. We make this a special place for a special day in our lives."

For more than an hour and a half, the church's members helped spruce up the church, changing light bulbs, tracking down decorations and untangling strings of lights. Five people set up a 7-foot-tall tree, wrapping it in lights, gold ribbon and garland.

The crèche houses ceramic handmade figures of Mary, Joseph, an angel and a few animals. The baby Jesus figure and the shepherds will arrive on Christmas Eve, the wise men on Jan. 6, the last of the 12 days of Christmas. The idea is to keep the arrival of the figures in time with their arrival in the Bible's Christmas story, the Rev. Mrs. Jerzak said.

The placement of every decoration has been carefully thought out. The tree, in a back corner, hides the Easter cross, which is adorned with lilies, the traditional Easter flower. The crèche, which sits on a large table in front of the altar, is placed so the acolytes have room to walk around it as they light candles before the service.

"You have to think of the logistics," the Rev. Mrs. Jerzak said. "You can't just throw them together."

Though there were about 15 people helping, the day was not without tricky tasks. The worst of all was untangling the swag lights, which line the balcony on one side of the church.

"When you're trying to get out swag lights that got all tangled, it gets complicated," said church member Gloria J. Staie, who has been helping decorate the church for more than a decade. "It looks very nice when it's all done."