2015 - Annual Calvin Christmas Party

Christmas will soon be upon us once again. 

With the Christmas season comes traditions. 

One Calvin tradition has been our annual Calvin Christmas gathering.  We have hosted this event for several years now.  The crowd is always different in some ways, and this year was no exception. 

Yet, it's always a fun time of fellowship and food.  

This year I decided to decorate a day earlier, enlisting the help of Megan.  Thanks for helping set up the fellowship hall up Megan.  Turned out pretty nice.   

 Our gift table.  

And our new tree this year. 
Yes, it's smaller than the old tree, but takes way less time to set up, and since it's been me doing the setting up over the past years, it was time for a faster tree.  : ) 
Still looks very nice, don't you think.  : ) 

The drinks table.  

And our usual placement set up for the night. 
No candies this time...budget cuts.  : ) 

People began arriving around 6 pm to get their food ready.  

We had coffee and hot cider and cold punch once again.  

We had a great group of young adults represented this time around as well.  Nice to see.  

Mother and daughter.  Sweet. 

Father and kids.  

And friends, all socializing and waiting for everyone to arrive. 

The kitchen was buzzing with people. 
I stayed away.  : ) 

Time to get things moving.  

We ask people to wear something red or green, but there are always those who feel the need to do just a wee bit more.  You can't tell, but the necklaces light up too.  Leave it to Christine and Bonnie to once again bring joy to the party.  : )  

Jonathan and Bill catching up. 

  

People milling about and relaxing. 
Always nice to see.  

And soon it was time to sit down and get started.  They didn't listen to me the first time.  : ) 

Now you can see the lights on Christine. 
Looks like it's a family affair.  : ) Nice smile Thomas.  

 A panoramic shot of the group.  

We started the evening out by having people at each table answer some Christmas type get to know you questions.  The following pictures are just of the different tables talking together about the questions.  

And then a song, a prayer, and then it was time for food.  

 Always a highlight of the night.  

There were many great and interesting dishes once again.  

Hey Sarah... 

Home made buns, and all sorts of delicious food. 
I love potlucks.  : ) 

What follows are pictures of the different tables eating and fellowshipping together.  

What's so funny Karlena.....

You too Rosy?  

Peter trolling for the last good morsels of food.  : ) 

There wasn't much left.  : ) 

After dinner was done, we played a game to help us digest things before dessert. 
It involved oven mits, and Hershey's Kisses.  

We gathered in three equal lines.  

That took a while.  : ) 

Hard to create 3 equal lines.  : ) 

When I said go, one person from each line would run to the table...

....put on oven mits.....

 ....and then proceed to grab a H. Kiss from the basket.  

They then had to unwrap the kiss, using only the mits.  

Not so easy eh Ben?  : ) 
Once unwrapped you ate the kiss and ran back so the next person could do the same thing. The following pictures are of those having fun doing the game.  Enjoy  : ) 

hmmmmm, some people may have cheated...

It was a fun game.  :) 

Then...dessert time.  

Lots of great desserts and coffee.  

 Annet made a great dessert.  Only 8 of them, so to prevent a rush to the dessert table, we put numbers under 8 plates and they were the ones to get one of these. 
I just happened to be given a number by someone who didn't want it (really, it's true!), so I got to partake of this great dessert.  
Well done Annet.  
Well done.  : ) 

Hey a food picture of me for a change. 

Yes, the dessert was AMAZING! 

Bea, what are you doing.....

Such a card.  
I see you got one of those great desserts too.  

 After dessert, we moved the tables and made our traditional circle.  
This time, before the gift exchange I read two stories to the group.  Called the LEFT/RIGHT game. 

As I read the story, and the word LEFT or RIGHT is mentioned....

.....people take a gift (one of 4 in the circle) and move it to the left or right.  

I think most people did it right.  

When the story ends, the person holding the gift owns the gift.  One time it was a mug, the other a $5 Tim's card.  

And finally, the time everyone waits for. 
Gift exchange time.  

Caralynn was the first person to open a gift.   

We move through the group, with a number being called out and that person could either steal a gift or take one from the wrapped pile.  

Megan made a very large gift....

 Took a while to unwrap.  

And rice and and Olaf hat were the end result.  

Each year the gifts are unique, but this year the theme was definitely CHOCOLATE.  

There were other gifts, like wrapping paper.  

 And Fudge......

 A new tradition was started this year as well. 

Taste the fudge to see if it's any good.  : ) 

More Chocolate.  

 lots of fun.  

What's it going to be Al....

Sweet!  



To steal, or not to steal....that is the question.  

The pile is thinning.  

really thinning.....

Micheal wanted to steal.....

More chocolate. 
Finally the game ended and everyone had their gifts. 
Since Caralynn was the first person to pick, we gave her the option to steal from someone else, but she decided not to...so the game was finished.  : )

We ended our time together with a couple of Christmas Carols.  

Another great evening of fellowship and celebration. 
Thanks to all who came, helped set up, and clean up.  

See you all next year. D.V.