So many G.S.A. members had a part in making the Christmas Dinner for Low-Income Families a great success!  Thank you to our Sunday school children for wanting to help in the first place and for doing so much of the fundraising. A special thank you to the kids who helped with preparations & gift-wrapping on Sunday afternoon.  Thanks also to their energetic teachers who listened, planned and prepared, shopped, cooked, helped wrap, added special “touches”, entertained, and cleaned-up.  Thanks to all of you who donated financially and made the shopping for gifts and groceries possible.  Thanks to Meg, for supporting the idea and helping out in so many ways! 

Thanks to the UCW, the CEC was looking pretty festive from the get-go.  The Christmas tree was beautiful, especially after we put 63 wrapped gifts under it!  Marjorie Manion set the tables with the help of early guests and gave the place the perfect finishing touches.  Thanks to Betty Bradford, Judith Sandles, and Dianne Shane who kept the children happily entertained with craft making and cookie decorating.  Clowns welcomed and played with children; the kids were never bored at this event.  After dinner, Santa passed out the gifts and we finished off with a piñata full of candy.  

The Sunday School leaders had a hand in the cooking and cleaning up.  They did an amazing job. (special thanks to Rick Malloch & Lynn Guillmette, Bob & Linda Fong, Jill and Mike Reid, Dianne Shane, Nancy Illman and Doug Griffith who were on the scene from start to finish, to Ron and Lisa Racine who helped wrap, set up and “go for” and Cathy Brooks and Christine Caldwell who provided a fresh pair of hands for clean up!)  The dinner was wonderful --- couldn’t have been better!  There was plenty of food and many of the 120 guests took home some of the delicious leftovers.  Thanks to all of you who donated food for the event.  The dessert selection was a dream! A special thank you to Rick Malloch who really did the bulk of the organizing and made it easy for the rest of us.  Great work, Rick! 

The most gratifying part of the event was the wonderful spirit present.  It was warm, welcoming, happy and generous.  I think all of us who were fortunate enough to be a part of it are eager to make it an annual event.     Elizabeth Boehm-Wilson