Church Christmas Party / Goodbye to the Collins

This past Saturday we had our first Christmas party!  We attend a church on Sunday evenings that is a group of English-speaking ex-pats who do church together in the building of a German church.  We have been a part of this group since we moved here and truly enjoy the people and the fellowship we can have with them.  This is the same group of people we celebrated Thanksgiving with.  On Saturday, we had a Christmas party with them which also doubled as a goodbye party for the Collins family.  They have been ex-pats here for several years and are moving back to Arizona over the next few weeks.

The party was at Dave and Brenda's house which Brian and I had never been to.  They are originally from Zimbabwe and have 3 boys.  Dave is a teacher at a boarding school and they live on the campus.  It was wonderful to see their house and be shown all their animals by the boys!  Here's just some of the animals...Brian saw the rest of them, but didn't take any pictures.

Mama Cat

Birds

Snakes...ewww!

One of the three kittens

There was also a gecko, more snakes, more lizards, and tarantulas!

We started off by playing a game where each person in the circle writes a line of a story and then we read through the stories at the end.  It was quite hilarious!

(Dave, Carter, Brenda, Lisa, Jim)

 (Brenda, Lisa, Jim, Steve, Gus)

The boys had a great time putting wooden puzzles together.  Watch out...they're thinking!!

(Steve, Brian, Gus)

 (Carter, Jim, Lisa, Gus)

We made a book of pictures and notes to give to the Collins as they were leaving us.  Here is Lindsay working on the book.

And here is Jim and Lisa enjoying it after we gave it to them.

We had a wonderful potluck spread of food for dinner!  And very yummy desserts!

Ladies first!

(Lisa, Lindsay, Brenda, Kurt)

The kittens were everywhere and sooooo cute!!  If I wasn't allergic, I would have taken one home!

(James)

Lindsay and I brought some crafts to make for Christmas and only barely broke into them!  We started to learn how to make the German Christmas stars from my previous post.  Here is Brian with one in his hair. :)

Since it was a Christmas party, we had to sing carols!!  Dave played the piano while we all sang along.

 (Brian, Brenda, James, Lindsay)

Near the end of the party, one of Dave and Brenda's friends came over and brought Mark a late birthday present (his birthday was on Thanksgiving) - skis!!  Gus is a big skiier, so he helped Mark get them on and try them out.  They were practicing tricks in the living room and then headed outside to try them down a hill.  It was so much fun to watch them. :)

Gus then thought he should try on the skis himself...they didn't quite fit. :)

We had a great time at the party and will definitely miss the Collins!  We wish them God's blessings as they move back to Arizona!