It’s time again for one of my favorite events… our 5th annual CrossRoads Christmas Celebration. 

The date is Friday, December 18th, 7-10pm, at John and Rebecca Calhoun’s home.

There will be food, my sherbet punch, live christmas music, and, of course, our white elephant gift exchange.  Bring a wrapped gift under $5…  No childcare at this event.

Hope you can make it… invite a friend!

We are having our 4th annual CrossRoads Christmas Party on Friday, December 19th.  The main event every year is our white elephant gift exchange.  Everybody coming is asked to bring an inexpensive gift (under $5), it can be something silly, a “re-gift”, or something nice.  It usually winds up being an uproarious time of fun.  We’ve had some great gifts over the years.  If you’ve never participated in such an event, here’s a background on the White Elephant Gift Exhcange (also known as Dirty Santa, Yankee Swap, or Chinese gift exchange) from the wonderful Wikipedia:

Gifts are wrapped, but are not labeled to reflect a specific sender or recipient. Gifts are typically inexpensive, humorous items or used items from home; the term white elephant refers to a gift whose cost exceeds its usefulness.  All participants draw a number (from a hat, perhaps) to determine their order.  The participant with #1 unwraps any gift from the pile and then shows it to everyone. Each successive participant, in the order determined from the drawing, can either 1) “steal” an already opened gift (if there’s one they really like) or 2) be adventurous and go for a wrapped gift from the pile. If the participant chooses to steal, the person whose gift is stolen now repeats their turn and either 1) steals another person’s gift (they cannot immediately steal back the gift that was just stolen from them) or 2) unwraps a new gift.  This cycle of stealing can sometimes continue for a long time, until a new gift is chosen, at which point the turn is passed to the participant with the next number from the drawing. (An alternative to the drawing is to sit in a circle and take turns in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction.) 

Since items can be stolen, the item in your possession is not yours until the game is over. However, this is often amended with a rule declaring a gift “dead” or “safe” after it has been stolen a certain number of times (usually two or three). This helps the process go more smoothly (avoiding, for example, the hypothetical scenario of the same gift being stolen by every successive participant) and limits the disadvantage of being among the first to choose gifts.  The person who picked first also has the option of picking last or keeping the gift already in hand. After they exchange or decide to keep their gift, the turn ends and there is no additional swapping.

So come, and bring a friend.  We’ll have live music, some goodies to eat, and other fun activities.  See you there!

Our Scavenger Hunt is Friday, November 7th, at 7pm.

We’ll be meeting at Rick and Tammy Walters’ home in Chester.  E-mail me for directions - crossroads616@gmail.com.

• Scavenger hunt starts at 7:00 sharp!  You need to be there at least by 7:15 if you want to participate and you WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS!
• We need to find out who has a video camera that we can use.  Each team will videotape as they go get the items off of the list.  Contact me by replying to this email if you can bring a video camera.
• Parents will need to find childcare!
• We need a good turn out if we want this to work!
• Please bring a snack to share
• BRING A FRIEND!  This a great and fun outreach event.
• Dress warm because we will be outside some of the night

Rick and Tammy are planning the items on the list.  The examples they gave were:

1. “Get a bag of marshmallows”
2. “Go through a drive-thru window and order in pig-latin”

…you get the idea.  When we reconvene at Rick and Tammy’s, we’ll watch the videotapes of each team’s conquest.  SEE YOU THERE!  Any questions, please let me know.

 We are going to carpool/caravan up to Carter Mountain Orchard in beautiful Charlottesville THIS SATURDAY 9/20.  If you want to ride or follow us, meet in the rear parking lot of Ironbridge Church at 10:00 a.m.  We will head up to C’Ville and find some lunch, then go and pick apples.  There is also a cider stand, gift shop, cafe, and activities for the kids.  Kids are welcome at this event!
 
THANKS to Rick Walters for getting us TWO MINIVANS we can take to carpool up there.
 
AFTERWARDS, John and Rebecca are inviting everyone back to their house to make carmel apples, site around a bonfire and just hang out.  Word on the street is that Peter might even bake some apple pies!  We can also chip in and order pizzas as well.  We’ll provide the carmel and sticks, you bring a favorite carmel apple topping.
 
Right now weather looks clear, sunny 75 degrees for Saturday.  If for some weird reason it looks like it might rain, feel free to call me at 804-652-9937 to see if we are still going.

Some pictures from our Christmas and Thanksgiving Celebrations are posted. Visit our online photo gallery for some more photos!