Ward Christmas Party

David and I were asked to be in charge of the  2024 Thanksgiving Meadows Ward Christmas Party. We were happy to take the lead but joked that hopefully they knew what they were getting into (we also planned the Ward Christmas Party 5 years ago in 2019). We followed through on the "if you ask us to plan, we will plan the party we want" idea and created the most amazing party that is was everything we always hope for in a ward party. Obviously, we are biased because it is exactly what we would want - but we figured that you aren't ever going to please everyone, and this was our chance to give a different ward party experience. We invited 4 couples to help us on our committee, but David I had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted and we just needed help making it happen. 

David and I spent some time talking through our vision for the "perfect" Ward Christmas party and it involved having fun, feeling the spirit, opportunities to connect with ward members that you don't normally connect with, opportunities to move around and connect with multiple people, and NO tables! (I have beef with tables at our Ward Christmas parties because it feels so limiting and there really aren't enough tables for everyone to sit at anyway.)

 

We wanted it to be fun and festive, but also for it to be easy and inexpensive. Liz Myntti helped me come up with the idea to create "Christmas Tree Kits" and ask 25 families in our ward to decorate a paper Christmas tree to hang on the wall. Erika Pike was the mastermind on the Christmas Committee and she created all of the paper gingerbread houses to finish it off. Liz wasn't on the committee, but she is a good friend and is SO creative, so she helped us a lot. Her family was having a Christmas party the week before and said that they were putting together 400 snowflakes to hang for their party. We got permission to keep them up for the week but it ended up being kind of a disaster. A random guy came to the church and decided that he wanted to play basketball so he cut them down. Then he "tried" to hang them back up but did it poorly and they were SUPER low. The Mynttis went back over to the church and rehung them. THEN we found out that the SNAP activity that week was dodgeball, and they weren't willing to change their activity or move to a different building, so the night before their activity we went over and cut them all down. Then Friday morning at 5 am, David and I went over to work on hanging them back up. It was not going well and we spent the first hour just trying to untangle the first string. We were both trying to be optimistic, but it was starting to seem more and more impossible. We knelt down and said a prayer, recognizing that the snowflakes were not the most important thing about this activity, but that we needed help because we literally could not do it ourselves. After that, we pulled all the snowflakes off the strand and started from scratch. By 8 am, we had about half the snowflakes hung back up. 

That afternoon we called in any person who said "If you need any help, let me know!" to come and help us decorate. It didnt' take that long because it was mostly just hanging things on the walls - but they helped get the last of the snowflakes up and the whole thing looked just magical. I was so grateful for each person who came and sacrificed their time, because it would have been so hard to do alone. We loved the way the decorations turned out! 

Christmas Party Vision:

Draw people closer to the Savior - Connect ward members together

Fun & Festive

Three parts: FUN, FOOD, FALALA

(Originally this was called Fun, Food, and Music - but I like Falala better.)

Time: 8:30 am - 10:30 am

Part 1: FUN 45 minutes of games. As people entered the building, we had committee members stationed at each door instructing families to go to specific rooms to start playing Pictionary. (the goal was to have each door alternate which room they were sending people to so that we got a good mix of families and equal group sizes.) Each room had a "Game Room Host" in it that was prepped to run the Pictionary game and help people understand what to do as they arrived. This was SO fun. Honestly, I wasn't sure that people would buy in to the Pictionary game but every single room was cheering, laughing, and engaging with each other.

The team that won pictionary was given 2 "Christmas dollars" and the team that lost was given one "Christmas dollar".

After 30 minutes of pictionary, we moved back into the big room for a giant round of "Rock Paper Scissors" where they used their "Christmas dollars" to keep track of who won. Everyone played "Rock Paper Scissors" and the person who won got to take all of that persons dollars. This went on until there were four finalists. (There were four colors of Christmas dollars). Then we pulled them up in front of everyone for the semi final and final rounds. We hoped that people would cheer for their team, and they did. The whole hall was cheering and laughing and it was just perfect. Also, Lucy was the finalist for her color (she was hanging with some ward friends while David and I were managing the party). Sweet girl! My friend said that she just kept wining and winning and putting each new dollar into a little pocket on her jumper. 

Part 2: FOOD

(Our vision: no tables, easy to eat food, two locations to get food)

The Lymans and the Derbys were in charge of the food and they did a great job with our vision. They ordered Kolaches from Hruska's which are delicious breakfast rolls, then had some fruit and other easy to eat items like granola bars and fruit snacks. We set up food in the regular food room AND the YW room. We had people go out the north doors and wrap around the back hall. Ben Lyman stood in the hallway to direct people and hand out paper bags and the line split into two. Our goal was to get everyone food as fast as possible - and it totally worked! Making the meal simple, structuring the line, and giving two places to dish up meant that everyone had food within ten minutes and they could sit in our randomly assembled chairs and visit with each other while they ate. This was a smashing success.

 

Part 2a: Nativity Walk

We had Nativities Set up in the Chapel for people to walk through after they were done with their food but before the music portion started. I loved this so much. We had ward members allow us to display their nativities and we had Christmas music playing in the background. Both Kevin and Wendy came to help us with this portion so we would always have an adult in the room but that we didn't have to ask one of our ward members to miss the party.

"We are glad to come together to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This special display of nativities, lovingly shared by members of our ward, offers a beautiful reminder of the humble beginnings of our Lord. Each scene reflects the profound love and peace that Christ brought into the world on that holy night.

As you walk through, may your heart be filled with the hope, joy, and wonder of the Christmas story, and may we all be inspired to worship Him more deeply this season."

Part 3: MUSIC

We wanted this to be part fun, part spiritual. The Fowles put together a program that was exactly what we hoped for! We started with some fun Christmas song games like name that tune, finish the phrase, and a sing-off battle. Then David bore beautiful testimony of the power of Christmas Music in helping us feel the spirit at Christmas and we had three beautiful musical numbers from ward members. We ended with a brief story about the song "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and the ward sang the first verse together. It was perfect.

I am just so grateful that everyone in the ward really bought into the whole experience. It made it so fun that everyone was so energetic and willing to participate. In the book, The Art of Gathering, it talks about how a good gathering has a structure and that the host gets to create the scaffolding, however, whether participants decide to buy in can make or break the gathering. Our ward really showed up and I feel like the party was full of connection, full of fun, and had a beautiful spiritual element that helped point people to the Savior. 

We got several messages like these: 

Many of the people who were sending us messages about it being "the best ward party" they've ever been to have been to a LOT of ward Christmas parties and it was just so kind of them to take the time to reach out to us and express that. It meant a lot to us and we were glad that other people found joy in the party the same way we did. 

It was a lot of work, but there were a lot of people helping - and honestly, it turned out exactly the way that we hoped it would. I tried to put as much detail into this post as possible without making it too cumbersome, because when we get to plan another ward Christmas party (2029?) we would do basically the exact same thing.

 Merry Christmas TM2!

Stake Primary Day Camp: Power of the Book of Mormon

Purpose: Primary Activity Children in the Thanksgiving Stake will gain a sense of belonging as they see that they are part of a gospel family that is bigger than themselves. They will make connections with those around them and strengthen their own spiritual foundations. This activity will draw them closer to Jesus Christ as they learn about the Book of Mormon and feel the power that is contained there. Our theme is "Power of the Book of Mormon".

I'll be honest and say that I thought last year's Temple Celebration Day Camp would be our last one as a Stake Primary presidency and I was a little surprised when once again we were planning a stake day camp. This was our 3rd Day Camp, and 5th Summer. 

2020/2021 - No day camp/Covid

2022 - Step Right Up - Carnival Theme

2023 - Saratoga Temple Celebration

2024 - Power of the Book of Mormon

We are definitely learning and adjusting each year. This year we had a large committee and even so I was worried that it wouldn't all come together. But it did and it was beautiful. I'm in awe of the incredibly talented people who worked so hard to make this so special. This was not a calling for them, we just asked for their help and they did something amazing. I'm so grateful for them and for my presidency who supports me and helps things like this actually happen! 

In Come Follow Me this year, we are studying the Book of Mormon and I loved that our day camp theme was "Power of the Book of Mormon". It was so neat to emphasize the power that created (wrote/translated) it, the power that it testifies of (the power of Christ), and the power that we receive from it.

The gym was decorated to look like Old Jerusalem. We gathered donations from people on the committee, people in the stake, and even had a connection with the event department at UVU's Institute who let us borrow a bunch of things. 

We started by talking about Lehi and Nephi following the Lord and leaving Jerusalem and how, from the very beginning, it is a story of faith and the hand of the Lord.

The kids then rotated through three stations:

-Craft: Kids will made mini- golden plates, learned about how difficult it was to write on the plates, and how Joseph Smith used the power of God to translate the plates.

-Physical Activity: Book of Mormon Stories. There were three different activities planned, each centered around a different Book of Mormon story. (We rented large party games and did this outside.)

One was a large circle that they had to walk on to get from one place to another. This will be tied to "Nephi building a body and crossing the sea". Another was a giant twister game - "enduring to the end" and "keeping the commandments". The last was a giant tug of war game and a white shirt with "Holy Ghost" was given to an adult who helped that team to win. 

 It ended with a testimony that the stories matter because they show that the Lord was there for those people and we can have confidence that he will be there for us. 

-Spiritual: Tree of Life Walk. The kids learned about the story of the tree of life and then completed a simulation of the tree of life story (set up in the font room). Fruit snacks were hanging on the tree at the end. The committee members testified that the Love of God is available to all who seek it.

The closing was held back in the gym which had been "transformed" into the city of Zarahemla (instead of Jerusalem). We had video projector set up in an awesome archway, representing the Temple in Zarahemla, and had moved all. of the plants onto the stage to create a lush focal point. We talked about the focus of the Book of Mormon and then played the Church video of the Savior appearing to the Nephites. We testified that the Book of Mormon is Another Testament of Jesus Christ and bore witness of the love Jesus has for them. It was beautiful. 

I asked one of the committee members to take on the responsibility of feeding the committee volunteers lunch between the morning and afternoon session and it was another example of how delegating to other people instead of trying to do it all myself just ends up so much better. 

This was a special day camp and I am grateful that I have had so many opportunities to bear testimony of the Savior, His love and the love of our Heavenly Parents. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and hope that the primary children of our stake were strengthened and supported in their understanding of how the Book of Mormon can bless their lives.