Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Starting the Christmas Festivities

Saturday we started out the Christmas season right with the Ward Christmas Party....actually it was a brunch this year. Since there is no ward activities committee anymore, the Bishop put the RS in charge of spearheading this activity.  I love it when the Bishop tells me to delegate to the other auxiliaries.  The HP group set up the table and chairs and the YW decorated the tables.... it was simple and just perfect.

It was a potluck meal, so everyone pitched in to bring breakfast casseroles, meat, fruit, breads and juice.  It was very yummy.  Then we had a short program on showing us how the characteristics of Santa match Jesus Christ to a T.  The Bishop asked a family to put the program on and they did fabulously....despite the fact that the mother was very ill that day.

At the end of their program, they introduced our special visitors......

We have Santa come every year, but since the Bishop had asked that we focus on the spiritual side of Christmas, we knew the Three Wisemen were the perfect visitors.  They told a bit about each wiseman and then introduced our ward's Giving Tree.  Every year, we hang tags for gifts needed for families in our ward.  We seem to always pick a gift card, so we are excited to go shopping for kid's toys this year.  After the closing prayer, the Wisemen greeted people in the foyer, giving a candy cane to everyone and a Christmas booklet to each family.

It turned out to be a very nice morning.....I think the brunch thing was a very good idea.  And we were out of there and driving home at the time the party was to be over.  Well organized if the RS doesn't say so ourselves.  Thanks to everyone for all your help! 

The rest of the day was spent decorating the house for the season.....minus our tree and outside lights.  It is always such a long process, but it looks so festive when it is finally done.  I love Christmastime! 

That night M, K and I went to the Creche display at one of our church buildings.  The whole family went last year and stayed for the live nativity they put on in the parking lot.  This year it was freezing cold.....I'm talkin in the single digits with the wind chill putting it below zero.  So this year, we only viewed the nativity scenes on display inside (no pictures as I wanted to enjoy it....look at last year's post cuz they were mostly all the same anyway)  There are some very beautiful ones, some really big ones, and some really cute whimsical ones.  There is always a nice variety.  Afterwards, we headed out for some girl shopping time.  It was fun to try on clothes and pick up some Christmas gifts.  Did I tell you that I love Christmas?  (I'm just glad that none of the kids were in the downtown parade this year....way too cold for that this year!)

Now if it would just warm up enough, stop being windy, and no snow long enough to get the outside lights up we would be set.  I LOVE CHRISTMAS! 

2 comments:

Sharlyn said...

It was a fabulous party! You guys did a great job!

Maureen said...

Your pictures came out great Melanie! It was so nice: the tables were pretty, the food was yummy, and the program was super. It was nice. You should be happy, cuz it was a great way to kick-start the month!