Christmas Party Plans!—Please Respond

Dear Friends:

Greetings from snowy New Mexico. Our family is visiting Dana’s parents in the big city of Clovis. We got about 2 inches of snow yesterday, with a few more expected tonight and tomorrow.

I need to give all of you an update on our Christmas Party. Here’s the scoop. It will take place on Friday, December 14th, from 5:00 to about 8:30 p.m. in the Family Life Center at the church. We have arranged for catering, a Bounce House, and—if we’re good—a visit from Santa.

DETAILS ON FOOD:

The dinner will be catered by Captain Billy Whizzbang’s (thank you to Shelley Buhner for helping us to get a good deal!). Here’s the menu:

For Adults--$7.50 per head
Includes:
Beef and/or Chicken Fajitas (meat and tortillas)
Beans and Rice
Tea and Lemonade or Punch
All the “extra stuff” for fajitas (sour cream, cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.)
Plates and all silverware and napkins

For Kids--$3.50 per head
Includes:
Cheeseburgers (all condiments provided)
Bag of Chips
Tea and Lemonade or Punch
Plates and all silverware and napkins

WHAT I NEED FROM EACH OF YOU: Please let me know by December 7th whether or not you will be able to attend and how many meals of each type you will need. We worked hard to get the meal prices as low as we possibly could, but I DO NOT WANT PRICE TO KEEP ANYONE FROM ATTENDING. If you think these prices are too high, please let me know and we will work something out.

------

DETAILS ON BOUNCE HOUSE AND SANTA

If anyone would like to donate to help pay for the Bounce House and Santa, let me know. The prices are minimal and we won’t have any trouble covering the cost.

In addition to the food above, we will plan to bring desserts and chips and salsa. The price for the fajitas came down about $1.50 per person if we agreed to bring chips and salsa ourselves. As for desserts, that seems easy enough to bring on a Friday afternoon. If the party were on a Saturday, we would plan to do covered dish, but cooking for a Friday evening seems a bit difficult to me (although, to me, cooking is a chore any evening . . . .)

-------

DETAILS ON GIFTS FOR CHARITY

For those of you who were not part of our class last Christmas, I need to give you the scoop on what we do for presents. Instead of buying presents for each other, we always choose a charity and buy gifts for that cause. This year, we will be buying gifts for “Carenet,” which helps single moms and other struggling families with young children. Anything related to children will be great (diapers, toys, bottles, etc.). Something in the range of $10-$15 would be great. Or, if you have toys you are looking to unload, bring them as well. If you will bring the gifts to the church on Dec. 14th, I will load them in my truck and take them to Carenet. This is always a good way to bless young families who aren’t as fortunate as us.

----------

Last but not least, I think we will want to plan to bring toys and other “kid stuff” for our youngsters to play with in the FLC. As for us adults, I will be happy to bring some basketballs. I haven’t lost a game of HORSE in about 25 years, and I don’t plan to start this year. For anyone out there who has the guts (male or female, including Leslie Coltrain), bring it on.

The only other detail that I can think of right now is that we will need to set up a big fat chair for Santa, assuming that he shows up. We also may need some deer food for his reindeer. I will be asking Brian VanZee to take care of the reindeer while Santa does his thing (Brian, you cannot use your gun or your bow; we want to make friends with Rudolph, Dancer, Prancer, and his friends, you know).

Again, please let me know by December 7th whether or not you will be able to attend and which meals you would like.

Dana and I are looking forward to a great time!

God bless,

Wes

P.S.—Back by popular demand, I will be cooking some of my World Famous Little Smokies. They should be ready about 5:15. BYOT (Bring Your Own Toothpick).