OKLAHOMA CITY — The parish staff of an Oklahoma City parish is panicking after ordering what they thought would be palms for Palm Sunday.

St. Hedwig’s Catholic Church thought that they were being frugal by purchasing the palms under budget. “Palms are so overpriced,” claimed parish secretary Stephanie Potts, “And with the war in Iran causing gas prices to rise, we thought that ordering tree branches worth $30 a bag would be ridiculous.”

That was when Potts had the idea to look on Temu. “I had bought a colander on Temu just last month for 25 cents. Sure, it was a little small, but hey, it still arrived and technically appeared as advertised.” Potts soon found palms on Temu for 10 cents a bundle, and bought 20.

Regardless of what Potts thought she was purchasing, the parish staff were less than satisfied by what arrived in their mailbox on Monday. “The first sign that something was wrong was that the box was quite small, 1’x1’x1′” remarked finance manager Maria Benitez, “and there was no way 20 bundles of palms could fit in that box.”

Sure enough, upon opening the box, the staff was surprised to discover 20 rolls of green party streamers. “How do they keep getting away with this?” asked Potts. “Well, I suppose we could hang them up around church. Fr. Don used to do that in the 90’s, haha.”

Fr. Arthur Lloyd, the present pastor, was not so amused. “I have no idea what we’re supposed to do now. Palms would have previously cost us a little over $200. Now, with express shipping, they might arrive on time, but they’re going to cost well over $700 with the demand.”

Temu did not return our emails requesting comment for this story.