The youth Christmas celebration was held on Saturday, December 18. Young people began arriving at the Fellowship Lodge just before 5:00 p.m. and were greeted with festive music and warm cups of wassail while they waited for dinner to be served. The meal was a veritable feast, including smoked turkey legs, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, and bread rolls. After the meal, Erik Calhoun announced that the first activity of the evening would be a game led by Chris and Jessica Oilar. The game was similar to Scattergories, but the topics were all related to Christmas and players earned points for matching answers rather than unique answers. In the end, three ladies had the most matches, and each was awarded a coffee gift card as a prize. 

This was just the beginning of the games, because the group was then directed to ten different stations located throughout the Fellowship Lodge and Activity Center. Each station had a different task, such as a relay race to move Christmas gift boxes across the gym, blindfolded hanging of ornaments, Christmas trivia, and a game of Limbo. The young people had to complete the task and collect a signature at each station to be entered into a drawing for the grand prizes of the evening—Christmas candy! 

Following the games, dessert was served, which was a smorgasbord of all manner of cookies and chocolates, served with ice cream and homemade fudge sauce, as well as hot cocoa or iced coffee to drink. The cookie board truly was as beautiful as it was delicious! As guests enjoyed their treats, voting was held for the best Christmas outfits of the evening. The categories included “Most Classic,” “Most Festive,” “Most Unique,” “Most Over-the-Top,” and “Best Overall.” The winners ranged from simply tacky to utterly ridiculous, and they were all worthy of the accolades they received. 

Often the youth Christmas celebration ends with caroling at some homes of ministers who live nearby, but this year the rainy weather prohibited caroling. Instead, Brother Erik made FaceTime calls and the young people formed a grand choir to sing over the phone. They were happy to be able to wish a Merry Christmas to the Lees, Phillips, and Rilers that night, and recorded a video for the Robys to watch later. As the young people enjoyed their Christmas celebration together, it was wonderful to be able to share some of that joy with others!