Last night was our homeschool group's annual Mom's Christmas Tea.  The local homeschool book store has 2 classrooms where we normally hold our meetings, and those 2 rooms were transformed into a Christmas Gift Bazaar and a holiday Tea Room for close to 60 attendees. Several members had tables in the Gift Bazaar where they sold handmade scarves, fun print pillowcases, calligraphy, purses, clay nativity figures, scented lotions, cookie mix in a jar, jewelry, and other homemade things. 

In the "Tea Room", 4-foot plastic tables were pushed together into squares to seat 8, covered with pretty tablecloths and decorated by table hostesses, each around a different theme: candy canes, the nativity, Adornaments, Christmas cards, Jessie Tree, Carols, and Kitchen jars. Hot cider, hot tea, punch, cookies, sandwiches, and fruit were brought by various members to fill the food table.  The program for the evening included a spirited rendition of "The 14 Days of Homeschooling" ( see previous post ), several door prizes, a short talk on doing a Christmas Unit Study, and descriptions of the table themes by each of the hostesses.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the fellowship; there was a lot of laughing and talking as people got to know the people at their table.  Upon arriving, everyone pulled a piece of paper that had a letter on it from a bowl , and that was your table assignment, so folks couldn't just sit with people they already knew!

This was a very successful event.  I think the key is to give as many people as possible a part to play.  Three members who are gifted in this area ( not official leaders ) were asked to coordinate the Tea, and they in turn recruited hostesses and other helpers, and gave them very specific jobs to do.

This approach seems to be working very well for our support group, and we have seen a dramatic increase in participation this year.

I took some pictures, but I had to use my daughters SLR camera since my digital camera is broken, so it may take a week or so to actually finish the roll and get the pictures developed. Oh well.

May your days be merry and bright.

<><