Ward Christmas Party

We had our annual / traditional ward Christmas Breakfast the first weekend of December. (yes, I'm slow getting pictures up)

My friend & neighbor had been asked to be in charge of decorating the gym. She asked me to come help. I remember the conversation going something like this....

"Hi, Sue, are you busy Friday? I need some help decorating for the Christmas party.
Well, yes, I am, but I could probably spare a couple of hours.
Okay....Great! See you at 10:00"

I figured that I'd be there for four hours and still have an hour and a half to do a little Christmas shopping and get the house straightened up before Rob arrived home from Denver (or was it Florida?)

I was late getting out of the house. My friend was even later because she had to fill her van up with tubs and boxes of Christmas decor (and I mean that LITERALLY - every inch was full). She finally arrived at 11:00 and we proceeded to unload her van.

There were two other sisters there to help. Two of us strung thread on paper snowflakes while the other two tried to figure out how to get wire strung from the eye hooks in the wall. One of the sisters had to leave mid-afternoon. We had men show up to set up tables and chairs and a couple of their wives came with to help. Rob called from the airport and I said I was still there so he had the cab drop him off at the stake center. Rob and I finally left around 10:00 pm! I had been there for ELEVEN HOURS. Of course, my friend stayed for another hour. But at least we were far enough along that she didn't stay till 1 or 2 in the morning.

The decorations turned out great! It was very rewarding when everyone walked in and we could see the delight in their eyes. I loved how the Santa Chair was set up on the porch of a life-sized gingerbread house.

The centerpieces were homemade gingerbread houses and each table was provided with Royal Icing and Candies. All the finished houses were set out to display and then lucky "winners" (the ones with a sticker under their chair) got to take the house home.

One of my favorite parts was the buffet tables set up in the middle of the gym - which created six serving lines...instead of the traditional end of the gym configuration which only allows for two long lines. Way to think outside the box! We didn't have enough tables and chairs set up, which is always a good sign that the activity was a hit.