Christmas Frivolity

We wanted to host a Christmas party at our house for the kids. This was not possible since we have a small apartment and there are 73 kids so instead we decided to host 4 Christmas parties. The first party was 24 of the youngest kids, ages 6-11. We did a hot potato gift exchange with them, ate some snacks, sang a couple Christmas songs, and they prepared a small performance for us. The second party was all of the older boys, 19 of them. They verified the old youth ministry axiom, "they will eat as much as you buy." With these boys we did a gift exchange with different rules - you could either open a new present or steal a present from someone else (we didn't implement the thievery into the young kids' game for obvious reasons). The attached video shows a bit of the skullduggery that went on at the boys' party. The chocolate was stolen from Matthew after about 3 seconds. The "give me your money" ski hat was stolen from Samuel very quickly as well.

To see their excitement over yo-yo's and chocolate makes us wish that we had enough money to lavish all 73 of them with gifts galore. Or maybe if we did that then they would not get as excited about yo-yo's and chocolate. Either way, these kids deserve it. The beautiful simplicity of seeing their joy and contentment has been refreshing this holiday season. If we can't be with our family this season then there is no place else i would rather be.