Wednesday, December 12, 2012

a hawaiian christmas

Back in June I started brainstorming about our annual ladies' Christmas luncheon at church. I had a lot of time on my hands and absolutely no earthly idea of a possible theme. I am the leader of the womens' ministry and this luncheon is the big mac-daddy event of the year. I searched on google and pinterest, but nothing was really coming to me.

Then one day, out of the blue, my friend Mila posted on facebook that he and his family were getting ready to move back to Hawaii and he was looking to do farewell concerts in the churches of his friends. Mila was the worship leader at Crossroads Church when I was teaching at Crossroads Christian School. I knew he was really good at what he does and so I sent him a message and asked if he was available on December 1st. Turns out he was and a theme was born - A Hawaiian Christmas. And the angels sang!

After that, everything was pretty easy. I made this banner out of some freebie Hawaiian paper someone had given me. Whipped out the old-school Creative Memories circle cutter and used the Cricut for the letters.
I can't host a party without a door prize, and so I went with pineapples. They were super cute and super cheap. I made tags with Hawaiian scrapbook paper and tied them on with ribbon.
The theme made it super easy to host a table. I used Phil's grandma's china, and bought a beaded candle for the center. I had a bunch of sea shells and tea light candles sprinkled around. The other tables were adorable.
We had a traditional Hawaiian meal - pulled pork sandwiches, rice, cole slaw, salad, fresh fruit, and cheesecake for dessert. A couple in our church always does the catering for us and they are amazing, right down to the Hawaiian punch in the punch bowl!
There were leis and grass skirts, mumus and starfish, Hawaiian shirts and Hawaiian skirts. I loved how everyone got into it. We had an ornament exchange and Scripture reading by our pastor's wife, but the best part of the whole thing was Mila's music. He played and sang while we ate and then had a little concert after we were done. He shared the Gospel and made us laugh. He led us in singing some Christmas carols and Mele Kalikimaka. It was so, so good.
I'm thankful how the Lord orchestrated all of it to come together and thankful I got to see Mila and Hannah, my former second grader, one last time before they move. Pray for them as they minister to people who have a hard time finding a need for God when they're living in paradise.

4 comments:

Luci Smith said...

Hannah sure has gotten tall. SO glad it worked out. Sorry never got to teach hula to some of your friends. Maybe next time.
I can teach them when ever.
Luci

Unknown said...

If there were Mumus and grass skirts, why aren't you in one???

Unknown said...

Awesome theme. Well done!

Kellie said...

That is great! I loved the theme and it looks like everyone else did, too!