28 December 2007

Christmas morning

It rained! In a year of drought with very few rain days, it rained on our picnic. I shouldn't complain too much. The ground was wet and we got one shower of rain just after the cooking started. When Santa arrived the rain stopped and right at the end, the sun was shining.

About 300 people turned up to share Christmas breakfast with us. There were older people, couples and singles, families with lots of children; some people brought their dogs along. There were little girls in fairy dresses and boys in spiderman outfits running around. Everyone was welcome to come along so we had people we help throughout the year as well as those who came to meet others and enjoy Christmas morning with their neighbours. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. It's great to see a community coming together like that.

We served muesli, cereal, yoghurt, milk, bacon, sausages, eggs and tomatoes, all sorts of fruit, bread, fruit, tea, coffee, flavoured milk, juice and water. Later there were cakes and chocolates.

This is my daughter-in-law, Cathy, my step son Jens - whose bald head is all you can see, and Bernadette, all preparing the fruit.

About 20 people came over during the morning and thanked me for organising the event. I made contact with members of one of our local churches who made a commitment to donating a sum of money to us each quarter to be used for our emergency relief food program.

We started packing up at 10.45 am, took the left-over food back to the Centre and just quickly put the cold food in the fridge. Our meeting room looks like a bomb has gone off in there but no one had the energy to do more. We'll go up next Wednesday and clean up again.

When Hanno and I came home, we sat down with a cup of tea and both went to sleep. : - ) It was a great morning, well worth the effort we put in and definately something we'll do again next year.
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7 comments

  1. I am so glad it worked out like it did!! Living in the desert any rain is good and we will often go out and stand in it when it foes rain- I was visiting a friend in Arkansas and went in her back yard when it was raining and she receoved phone calls from her neighbors saying there was a crazy person standing in the rain in her yard. She said oh, she's not crazy, she's from New Mexico! I hope Hanno is feeling better and that you have a relaxing week end ahead!!

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  2. Hi Rhonda,

    So glad to hear that things went off well after all of your groups planning.

    I have to say I was quite surprised to see the oval green. With the amount of rain you guys have had I really expected brown.

    Kind Regards
    Belinda

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  3. Hi Rhonda Jean,
    What a Wonderful Project your organized! Sorry it rained, glad it wasn't a wash out!
    So nice of you and Hanno and Family to reach out and help others:o)
    Hope you have a great day!
    Blessins', Lib

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  4. What a wonderful community event! It is a shame about the rain, but it sounds like a wonderful turnout none the less!

    You must be feeling exhausted after that mammoth effort!

    Shell.

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  5. i'm so glad you had such a good turn out! what a wonderful idea and what a truly remarkable way to give to others! glad you had a good christmas!

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  6. Hello Rhonda Jean!

    How lovely to see a gorgeous green Christmas! Here it is rainy and dreary (Georgia, USA). A bit of sunshine and fresh fruits & vegetables would be a welcomed changed around here. Both my husband and I grew up in areas where we could expect a white Christmas (Virginia and Illinois). It hasn't snowed in Georgia since the east coast blizzard of 1993. Then they got an inch.

    Congratulations and best wishes for continued success in the years to come.

    Blessings,
    Lacy Razor

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  7. What a wonderful Day Rhonda

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