Christmas Party Revisited

After Monday, everyone should have had a visit from Mom and Dad for FHE. The deadline to get all materials to Katy is Monday, December 17th. The items I need include:

• Money collected from the jars (to replace gifts for each other) - might want to mail to me the week before. This might actually go to Sandy - we'll let you know.
• Approximately two pages (digital please) of EVERYONE's personal history - "the first five years" - email to Katy at this address: katy_knight@mac.com
• Digital images for the family calendar - email to Katy at the same address or send a CD or a jump drive

We will have the party at either Leslie's house or her church. I think we will start early - 4:30 or 5:00 PM on Saturday, December 22nd.

Here are the assignments at this point:

• Food - Sam and Paulette (Larry will pay)
  
• Sub for Santa Family or humanitarian project ? - Sandy & Leslie
• Sugar cookies/gingerbread men - Karen
• Karaoke/carol singing - Dan
• Missionary Letters - Ann Dee
• Family Calendar - Katy 
• Personal History Binder gift - Katy

PS - Sam do you like my bullet points?

Christmas Plans

I thought you all might enjoy these pictures from the 2003 Christmas Party taken at the no-longer-existent Joaquin Elementary School gym.

Some of you may remember that last year we decided that we'd all take turns planning the Christmas party in pairs. Sam and I volunteered to do it this year. Here is our plan:

Gift Exchange:

We are not going to exchange gifts this year. Instead we are going to use the money we would have spent on each other to give to a family for a "Sub for Santa". I really think the grandkids should be a part of the giving and so we are going to have Mom and Dad come to each of your homes for FHE starting tomorrow. They will give a lesson about giving etc and also give each family one of these to decorate (FHE activity - please provide your own decorations) and keep in the kitchen or somewhere where it will be seen. The idea is that everyone will add money to the jar until the day of our Family Christmas party (TBD). Then the day of the party, a few of us will go and buy the gifts for the family (Dan is going to find us a family) and at the party we can decorate cookies, tie a quilt, and wrap gifts for the family and even possibly some can go and deliver the gifts - depending on what Dan thinks will be best for the particular family.

I thought this schedule might work for FHE visits from Mom and Dad. Please let me know by writing a comment if that date works for you.

• November 12: Sandy and Leslie
  
• November 19: Joe
  
• November 26: Dan and Sam
  
• December 2: Karen, Ann Dee and Katy
  

Gifts for Mom and Dad:

This year we are not going to purchase gifts for Mom and Dad. Instead we are going to give them something better. Every single person in our family (spouses, children etc.) are going to write a section of their personal history. The personal histories will be compiled into a binder for Mom and Dad to keep. Mom and Dad are very excited about this idea and Dad came up with the topic for this year - "My first five years". Everyone will need to write approximately 2 pages about what they remember of their first five years of life - where they lived, what they did for fun, who was around, stories etc. This can be an activity for another FHE - then please email these personal histories so I can compile them for the gift. I think this could be a great tradition and a much more meaningful gift for our parents than orange sticks, ties, and perfume soap.

Christmas Party:

The first thing is to decide a date - I think a logical date is Saturday December 22nd. It is the Saturday before Christmas and I'm thinking most everyone will be on Christmas break by then. Because I have a final the day before, I'm going to need some help organizing this.  Please respond on the following points:

• Date - December 22nd - please let me know
• Location - maybe Ann Dee's church again (where we had Mom and Dad's 50th party) - any other ideas? Ann Dee will you be in charge of this?
• Food - Paulette and Sam (is that ok?) will be in charge of this but ideas and help will be appreciated
• Quilt for SFS family - I need someone to get it all ready so that all we need to do is tie it  at the party and it is ready to go - Anyone willing to be in charge of this?
• Organize the purchasing of gifts - this responsibility might go to Dan as he is going to be our liaison with the family. Dan is that ok?
• Sugar or gingerbread cookies - I need someone to be in charge of making cookies and providing all the materials for decorating - Anyone willing to be in charge of this?
• Family calendar - Please email me your favorite family pictures taken this last year. Doug will you help me again this year? This will most likely not be ready by the time we have our party but hopefully it will be ready by the new year.

At the party, I thought we could sing karoake (Dan will you bring your system?), watch video footage from various family outings this year (Alaska, 50th Anniversary), write letters to Elder Lowell and Elder Rock, or whatever else you want to do.

I'll be posting new information on this blog so please be sure to check it or sign up for the RSS feed so you know when I post something new. Thanks

Katy