Last night as I plopped down in the arm chair in our living room and surveyed the mess around me I could suddenly relate to the opening scene of the movie
Father of the Bride. George Banks sits back in his chair looking at the ground littered with confetti and cups of half drunk beverages, and plates of half eaten cake in every available surface. That was the scene Veronica and I were staring at last night when we got home from dropping off the 12 d-group girls.
The idea started a couple of months ago when one of my d-group girls asked if we could have a Christmas party for all of the d-group girls. Her idea was to do a Secret Santa gift exchange, decorate Christmas cookies and listen to Christmas music. So that is what we did. We started the evening with dinner. Then we finished tying ribbons on the clay ornaments, which they had made and glazed preciously. After that we decorated lots of Christmas sugar cookies. Lastly, we had our gift exchange which was the highlight of the evening.
I couple of weeks ago at our d-group girls' Thanksgiving dinner the girls all drew names for each other. The last couple of weeks Veronica and I have been taking the girls to shop for their gifts. Last night we had a secret wrapping room and they each took turns wrapping their gift. When the time came they each took a turn giving their gift to their girl. It was so fun to see them exchanging gifts with girls that they don't necessarily get along with.
When it was all said and done I could not have been happier. It really looked and felt like Christmas morning in our house. I think in the past three years of being here, it was the most I felt like family with the girls. I love that Jesus can do that. He can bring an unlikely group of people together and build relationships between them that feel like family because of a common bond in Jesus.
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| Decorating cookies |
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| Justine and her cookie |
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| The gift exchange |
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| The gift exchange |
So glad your party and gift exchanged turned out as you had planned and that the girls had a good time and that they are building loving relationships. Good job! Your tree looks great!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun time for you and the girls! Did they have a hard time choosing gifts for each other? I'd have to agree with your mom - the tree looks really nice. Merry Christmas!
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