Our Branch Christmas Party

Last Christmas season, we had a Branch Christmas Party planned.  Early in December, we had an outbreak of mumps, and the party had to be  cancelled in order to eliminate the possibility of the whole Branch coming down with the mumps.  The few cases that we had get passed around to several others, including our Branch President.  He ended up in the hospital with meningitis as a complication of the mumps.  The bottom line was, we never had a Christmas party.

Because we hadn't had a Branch Council in almost two months, we hadn't started planning a party for this year.  When we did finally meet, it was almost the end of November.  We brought up the possibility of a Christmas party, and with the school nearing the end, and people leaving for holiday to visit family, many people were going to be leaving early in December and wouldn't be back until January when the children started school again.  It was finally decided to have it the following Saturday, November 23.  This meant that we wouldn't be having Church before the party was to be held, so there was the chore of contacting everyone.  The Primary President had a little Nativity Play that she said she would take charge of assigning parts for the entertainment part.  They usually just do games.  Our Branch President didn't want to have a Braii, (B B Q) because that took too long and all the men would be down doing the cooking and wouldn't be able to be a part of the happenings.  It was finally decided that Lynn and I would be in charge of the main course and the Relief Society and Young Women Organizations would assign out the other food.

So with less than a week to get things ready, we started working on a menu, decorating etc., as well as sending out mass SMS's (texts) to everyone.  We decided to do Chicken Salad on rolls for the main course and salads , desserts, and drinks to finish off the menu.  People don't do any decorating for Christmas over here, in fact almost no ones even puts up a tree.  In order for it to feel like Christmas, we had planned to take over our small tree and what other decorations we had to make it feel festive.

Friday after District Meeting, we began to haul in all our things to get the Primary rooms set up for the Party.  We would have the Nativity in the Chapel area and then move into the Primary room for the eating.  This was the final result:

Our wonderful tree!

Our new item this year - a lighted angel.

We tried to put a little Christmas something for each table.

We set up chairs along the side for overflow.  We're thinking positive!

This was on the serving table.  We put our little music box in the middle so it wouldn't be handled too much.  It was sound activated and played "Let it Snow" whenever a loud sound happened.  Then snow would start falling down in the background as it lit up.  This was the delight of all the kids.  They couldn't figure out what made it start playing all of a sudden.  Some of the little preschoolers even carried small chairs from the nursery to stand on to get a bird's eye view of it.

On the back side of the table was our little Nativity.  It was the only one we could find last year.

We put the drinks on a separate table to avoid some spills onto the food.

Getting the food set on ready for the invasion of hungry people.

Nicholas was our first narrator for the start of the Nativity.

Each speaking part was followed by a Christmas Carol by one of the Branch organizations.  

This group was the Relief Society.

Mary (Sarah) and Joseph ( Bryan) arrive in Bethlehem. 

Nolwazi does her part of the narration.

The Branch Presidency & Elder Baxter contribute to part of the music.

The Shepherds on their way to see the Baby Jesus.  

Dressing the Shepherds was a production in and of itself!

The angels and shepherds herald in the birth of the Savior. (Baby Zande)

The Young Women Leaders add to the music also.

Despite all the last minute preparations, no rehearsal, and confusion and excitement of the children, it really turned out nice.  Everyone felt the real Spirit of  the Christmas Season.  We then went into the Primary room for the luncheon.  Unfortunately Lynn and I were so busy keeping trays and bowls refilled and drinks poured to avoid spills, we didn't think to give our camera to the Elders to take some pictures of people enjoying their meal.    The atmosphere and the spirit that was there, made the members just want to hang around and visit and enjoy the beauty of the day as they set their minds to the beginning of the Christmas season.  Even though many members had to work or had car problems, we had about  70 members and investigators in attendance.  Needless to say, there wasn't a crumb left afterward.

To finish off the occasion, I had made White Stockings, so  each family could take one home.  This was Jesus' stocking.  On Christmas Eve, each family member would write on a small piece of paper what gift they would gift to Jesus.  This would be something that they would do individually to bring them closer to the Savior, and help them to grow spiritually.  The papers would be put into the stocking, then the next Christmas, when the decorations come out again, the stocking would be hung on the tree.  On Christmas Eve, the papers would be taken out and each gift read, and the person would decide how well they did on the gift that they committed to give to Jesus.

Even without a lot of planning, or time for people to schedule this event on their calendar, we felt that it was very successful and the members came away with a joyful, meaningful feeling of Christmas!