I think I mentioned this in a previous post, I attended another Christmas party last weekend. This party was hosted by the neighborhood Ward (Ward means church). Apparently, a party is hosted there every year and we never knew about it until now. It turned out to be one of the more enjoyable parties I’ve been to. 

Our neighbor came and picked us up at 6 pm that evening and together, we arrived at the Ward about 5 minutes later. We walked in, hung our coats on the hanger, and walked into the gymnasium. The moment I walked in, I snapped a picture and immediately, I got a sense that I’m probably going to the weirdos at the party who takes pictures of everything.

Face bright red, I stuffed my camera back in its case and followed our neighbor to the table. As we sat down, we at last realized that our neighbor organized the whole thing.

A mini-movie began to play on the screen. It was a quick film about the meaning of Christmas. I quickly glanced around and as always, I’ve found myself surrounded by strangers. After the quick movie, it’s time to eat. It’s a dinner buffet and before I could get up, some of our neighbors have come over and say hi. It took me a few minutes to jog my memory as to who they were but I managed.

By the time I got in line, the line had already stretched across the stage. If you’re curious as to where I sat, I sat at the table with the computer screen and white projector propped up. So it should give you a clue as how far I was in the line.

There was a lot of children at the party. So while I was waiting in line by myself, mom was busy holding our neighbor’s children and talking to our neighbor to pay attention to me. Hooray for me. As you can see, I have advanced just a little bit in line. I was standing right in front of the projector when I took the picture. The food was excellent especially the meatball and mushroom gravy. Yum!

As we ate, we watched yet another Christmas mini-movie but I didn’t pay attention though, too busy eating. We finished the dinner with some cookies and mini-cupcakes for dessert. Then the bishop appeared on stage for a quick word, followed by a quick prayer. That was a wrap for the party and then we stood around while everyone cleaned up. We wanted to help but everyone insisted that we were guests and just relax.

As I stood against the wall, out of everyone’s way, I witnessed something amazing happen. Teamwork and cooperation. Kids, men, and women diligently helped clear the table and neatly arranged the chairs in the racks. About 15 or 20 minutes, that was how long it took to transform the room back to a gymnasium. I thought it was quite incredible.

After everything’s been put away and people began to leave, I discovered something else amusing, at least to me. It turned out we are known by quite a bit of neighbors. Even though we don’t know them, they knew us, not us by name but by our faces. After all, how can you forget faces like ours? I also discovered that all of the people attended this party pretty much live within a block from us. I guess it was not a party after all, but a neighborhood gathering.

Daily Post Photo Challenge – Gathering