Christmas Fest

Our church held their 1st annual International Christmas Fest the weekend before Christmas.  The idea was to stop by our Church for a hot meal and a free concert by the band Forgiven.  All of this was free to anyone who came.

 

My only regret, was that I was in the kitchen most of the night and didn't get a picture of the band.  Which is a real bummer because they are the reason this got started.  Forgiven is a non denominational worship band in our area.  All the members come from different churches.  We where lucky enough to have Forgiven at Augustfest this past year. Three of the members: Janet, Ed and KC belong to our church and we are very lucky to have them.  If you are in Eastern Oregon and can listen to them play, you won't be sorry.

 

 The picture above is right before the crazy rush we had.  We also had a Christmas program done by the CCD and youth groups.  By the time the show started there was not an empty spot in the gym.  The guess is about 500 people served over the course of the weekend.  I like what one church member said, "It is nice to have something to do where money isn't a concern."

  

Jason reading his part.

Megan was the narrator.
 


There are my two little starts.  Doesn't she look good in glasses.

 

The servers:  Anthony and best friend Hayden.  Kesha, who has not allowed me to take her picture for the last 7 years.  And Angela, who I often joke that I want to be her when I grow up.  She makes throwing a dinner for 500 people look easy.

 

Some of the youth group kids, including Megan.  They are running the crafts table.

 

 Jason, running one of the international tables. The idea behind the weekend was to see the different Christmas traditions of  other countries.  I wanted to do a Portugal table but was in the kitchen all night and couldn't pull it off.  As it turned out, we had so many people and the gym was just to small to see all the international tables.

The ladies guild also set up a display of nativity scenes.


 

It was a difficult weekend to pull this off.  But I will say, I am so glad that my family was a part of this.  Yes, I was tired and a little stressed about getting things done for my own Christmas day.  But doing something for others is really what Christmas is all about.  Plus, every time I do something like this, I walk away feeling like I have gotten to know someone I didn't know before.

You know the weekend was a success when you have bought out every can of spaghetti sauce in this town.