The Primary Presidency was "nominated" to be in charge of the Ward's Christmas party this year (we also handled the Ward Trunk or Treat too but who's counting...) so we planned early and planned well.
We really wanted to do something different...a little more special than we've had in years past. We didn't want the traditional ham/turkey, potatoes and green bean dinner.
It was decided that we would go old school...I mean really old school, like Bethlehem old. We put together a wonderful menu, a simple program and the ambiance.
Our theme for the party was:
Follow the Star
Our menu consisted of the following:
Lemon Chicken
Tabbouleh
Pine nut and golden raisin couscous
Roasted red potatoes
green salad
yeast rolls
tasting plate on each table (hummus, flat bread, dried fruit, nuts, grapes)
We, as a presidency decided that we would be in charge of cooking the majority of the food. We each marinated & baked 20+ lbs of chicken, we assigned two sisters in the ward to make the Tabbouleh, we cooked the couscous at the church, purchased salad from Sam's Club and ordered 17 dozen rolls from Golden Corral.
The program was simple yet included everyone in the ward. We asked each Primary child to dress up as either an angel, shepherd or wise man. We asked people in the ward to lead the music, to play the Christmas hymns and to be the narrator. As music was softly played during the narration, the children would walk in and take their place near the manger scene and the entire congregation would sing the hymns when directed. It was really beautiful.
We also wanted there to be the ambiance to reflect the special occasion so the night before we hung Christmas lights to be the "stars" and it offered just enough light. We had a beautiful manger hand-crafted by a guy in our ward. It was truly a work of love & art! We set the manger scene with lights, straw and of course, the star.
The tables were decorated with burlap, a lantern, tea light candles, a tasting plate & a water carafe. It was lovely. The food tables were also set with some fabric, we used white serving dishes, baskets for rolls and had bowls of clementines out as well. It was lovely!
One of the biggest problems at ward parties is that you have 200 people in line trying to get food, kids running around and chaos! We set a few rules in place: We numbered each table and invited the tables up one at a time, ONLY if they had children at the table. Our plan was to get the children to eat first because we had set up Santa's Workshop in the RS room. We had a table of candy, a table with coloring sheets and movie, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" playing. This gave the kids the opportunity to have some fun without running around the building (all other rooms were locked up...smart!) and also time to change into costumes if necessary and it also gave the adults time to have a quiet meal and to enjoy dessert.
The entire gym was really transformed and we were so pleased!
We worked hard, planned well and were happy when it was over!
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