The Meister Christmas Party

Each year the Meister Christmas party is held in Farmington, IL at the Old School Center on the 23rd of December. Thank goodness for the school there is no way to fit our growing family into a house. We start with a meal and the meal last night was probably the best Christmas meal ever. The meat came from a brother in Eureka who donated 20 pounds of pulled pork at the Skyline auction. Mom bid on it and won, then when Diane went to pick up the meat he insisted 20 pounds wasn't enough for our family and threw in another 20 pounds refusing any extra pay! What a gift and it really was some of the best flavored easily the most tender and delicious pulled pork ever! After the meal we gather into the library for the most anticipated part of the evening and no it is not the presents or even the visit from Santa. More on that a bit later. Below are a few of the girl cousins waiting for the evening to begin.

Santa made an entrance earlier than usual to hand out a gift for each child before the start of the program.

Once the little hands and mouths have something to keep them occupied it is time for the reading of the Christmas story by Spark. Spark needs a lot of help with the reading, his eyes must not be good, he says a lot of wrong words and the children all have to be on their toes, catch the wrong word and say the right one.

He got them with, "there was no room for them in the Holiday Inn!" One of the kids yelled "No, ummm I guess you are right!" of course the room burst with laughter. Below is Nancy listening intently:

And then comes the most anticipated part of the evening, the special numbers! Each child gets an opportunity to be the star, standing on the stage performing into the microphone:

After the Special Numbers it is time for Santa to come back. Fede played Santa this year and really did an excellent job. Most of the kids didn't even scream and try to hide, of course he did bribe them early with candy. Diane tried to have it a little more organized this year calling 4 up at a time, then when the gift was opened they were to tell everyone what they received.

Addyson was pretty thrilled with her Brave costume:

Once the young ones have their gifts the adults are called up. Nate was so excited to get called he couldn't contain his enthusiasm. Check out what he did to poor Santa:

Mom's turn was just a bit different this year. She opened the few smaller gifts then Diane announces, "we have one final gift for mom, something she has asked for for years and years." Of course mom is very confused.

Below is her reaction when she opens her large flat screen television:

Yes we are forcing mom kicking and screaming into the 21st century.