PEF Christmas party 2009!

Last Friday night was also the annual PEF Christmas party! I probably say this about every large event thrown by PEF, but this really is one of my favorite nights of the year -- the entire first floor of Murray Dodge is decorated with candles, garland, ribbon and lights, there's a ton of delicious homemade Christmas treats, and the evening is filled with caroling, gingerbread house making, writing Christmas cards to PEF missionaries, and fun times with friends.

But really, pictures can tell the story so much better than I can... :)


Wreath and candles over a blazing fire


Jamie playing beautiful Christmas music


One team, trying desperately to prevent their gingerbread tower from collapsing


Dan explaining his team's gingerbread temple, complete with Wonder Woman


A frosh girls team, introducing their gingerbread Pride Rock with "The Circle of Life"


Margaret pointing out her team's very scary gingerbread dragon


Writing Christmas cards to PEF missionaries


Christmas caroling!


Grad students representing at the Christmas party!
(Yay for Matt and Nicole!)


'09ers were there, too!


And so were Erik, Erin and Luke!

Good fun, good food, good fellowship -- gotta love PEF Christmas traditions!

For the full set of PEF Christmas party photos, check out this SmugMug gallery.

Christmas Traditions: Small Group Christmas Party!

David and I have been involved in a grad student / young professional small group through our church for the last several years. The leaders of our group, our dear friends Erik and Erin, moved out to New Mexico at the end of the summer, when Erik received his PhD -- and we miss them so much! They passed the baton on to us, so we're now leading two small groups. It's lots of fun -- we really love our groups! And it's such a blessing to us, being able to do ministry together.

Anyways, another one of our Christmas traditions is to bring the members of both groups together for an annual Christmas party. So last Saturday, we invited everyone over for a dessert extravaganza -- and wow, what an extravaganza it was! (We're still looking for ways to give away the leftover cookies...)

Desserts I made: sugar cookies with Christmas sprinkles, peanut butter Hershey kiss cookies, chocolate peppermint cookies (h/t Rachael Ray), and the cookie platter plus fudge, cheese tray and candy canes

And that was before our guests arrived, many bringing their own treats with them!

Some of our small group, plus Erik and Andrea's gingersnaps and date bars,
Emily's peppermint biscotti, and Carrie and Matt's Texas sheet cake.

Oh, and note the centerpiece on the table -- we finally figured out a way to get rid of all the extra cranberries and popcorn from our garlands. Here's a close-up of the centerpiece (and, incidentally, of the fudge):

One of the main "planned" activities for the party was a massive gingerbread house decorating undertaking. Michael's sells these gingerbread house kits, which have been a big hit at other parties we've gone to over the last few weeks, so we decided to jump on this bandwagon. :)

And a shot of the finished product:

The verdict: gingerbread house decorating is tons of fun, no matter how old you are!

We do really love our groups, and feel so blessed to be a part of this community!

(And we still have tons of cookies left over -- even after we brought them all to another Christmas party last night! So if any of you want any, please let us know!)

PEF Christmas Party 2008

PEF had its annual Christmas party last night after Friday Night Fellowship. As always, it was a really fun night of fellowship and Christmas spirit -- complete with gingerbread houses and caroling! I've uploaded a bunch of pictures onto Facebook, but here's a brief run-down of some of our favorite moments from last night.

Just a small section of the amazing spread at the party... I love Christmas cookies. :)

One of the new events at the Christmas party this year was a gingerbread house making contest. We've had gingerbread house decorating in past years, but it was usually done with graham crackers, empty mini milk cartons, and tons of icing and candy. This year, the icing and candy remained, but we went with these amazing little gingerbread house kits. And wow, did the students deliver with creative and beautiful gingerbread creations!

The artists, hard at work.

Here are just a couple of the entries:

Gingerbread train and caboose; Nassau Hall, complete with ivy (click to enlarge)

I took a bunch of pictures of the gingerbread creations and their makers (all of which, again, are available on Facebook), but I had to post at least this one picture of proud undergrad gingerbread house architects:

Because, of course, the best part about making a gingerbread house is testing to be sure that your materials are sound.

My other favorite moment at PEF Christmas parties is the caroling. We all gather in the front room in Murray-Dodge, pass out the old carol books, and sing our hearts out.

Jamie Rankin, German professor and pianist extraordinaire

Part of the large circle of carolers

What a wonderful way to celebrate the incarnation and birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!