Campus Christmas Party!

The past few weeks this campus has been full of Holiday Festivities! Though yesterday was technically January 2nd – we still celebrated Christmas one last time!

The team had so diligently packed gifts for each orphan, staff child, & Castillo kid back in August when we shipped everything to Haiti. Unfortunately their crate of gifts also went down with the ship! 🙁

We were so honored when they decided to try and replace everything again! AND THEY DID!! The tables were full of presents and everyone was so excited to see their name on one of the packages.

We started off the party with the Christmas Story. The whole reason for the season is Jesus and we wanted to make sure everyone knew beyond a shadow of a doubt!

Then everyone made Nativity Crafts.

After crafts the littler kids played Pin the Tail on the Donkey while the older kids played Plinko (you drop a disc at the top and see what number it lands on).

Then we played our version of musical chairs without all the chairs! You stand in a circle and hold hands. You walk around the circle until the music stops. When it stops you have to find a star and stand on it. If you don’t – you’re out. We played this until there was one person left!

What’s a party without a little dance music? We played the Chicken Dance which was great because the Americans danced with everyone too! Then we taught them the Cupid Shuffle & the Love Shack line dances! I videoed these but we couldn’t get it to upload! 🙁

After all that sweating  – it was time for cake! Each table was given a cake and before it was served everyone sang Happy Birthday to Jesus!

After cake it was time for presents! Pierre called off each child’s name. They raised their hand and their present was brought to them. After EVERYONE had their gift – they all opened them at the same time! I LOVED watching the faces of the littler kids and even the bigger ones! The room was full of joy & deep gratitude!

Sometimes we take for granted that everyone on our campus gets to participate in all the fun ministry activities. But the truth is – most of our ministry is focused on the streets. Yesterday the children on our campus were reminded in a beautiful way how important they are to each and every one one of us!

Thanks to everyone who donated shoe boxes for this special day. I wish you could have been here to see their faces, their smiles, and twinkle in their eyes! A good time was had by all and God gets the glory!