Of White Elephants

For our very last 2013 Community Group, we had a White Elephant exchange. If you don't know what it is, some have different rules, but ours went with the rule that you had to wrap up something basically silly/unwanted. If you bought something, you could only spend five dollars. If you didn't, anything went. Our group didn't disappoint, and there were lots of ridiculous gifts.

To play the game, everyone draws a number. Number one picks a gift first, then number two and so on. When it's your turn, you can choose to pick a gift from the wrapped pile or to steal one from someone else. Gifts can be stolen three times before they remain with the thief, and the person they are stolen from has to choose a new gift.

Carson took pictures of the hilarity. It was fun and festive because like a big family Christmas, there was paper everywhere and every person seemed to be loving it, even though we all got terrible gifts.

Malea got some unwanted DVDs

Chris ended up with a Hawaiian themed gift... someone's stolen street sign (the street was "Hula"), a can of SPAM and a bag of kale chips.

Danielle got a mug with tea and hot chocolate. Not a bad gift

Austin stole Danielle's gift

Lana was out to steal something... Bryan tried to offer his "Chillow" but she had something else in mind

She took Jason's gift

And Jason ended up with the bacon lip balm that Ben (right) brought. Bacon was a theme in two gifts. Someone else bought bacon toothpaste. A bunch of people tasted it. Carson said that it tasted like bacon gristle. A lot of people liked it and went back for more tastes. Gross.

Claire ended up with old books of Carson's and a marshmallow shooter (sorry Mom... he would have loved it if he had someone to shoot back)

We divided into pairs (and one group of three) and played Apples to Apples. It was going to be too challenging to play with that many people. It was fun, but we only made it around the circle once before people needed to go and we broke the party up.

Before everyone left, Lana suggested a group picture. Our group has really grown in the three short weeks since our Thanksgiving group picture. Oh, and the four of us standing in a row were sitting on the couch when suddenly we heard a loud "CRACK" and realized that we had broken the couch. It still doesn't look or feel broken, so I don't know where it's cracked, but OOPS.

Top: Bryan, Claire, Lana, Malea, Bryce, Ben, Cassie, me, Andrew

Bottom: Jason, Chris, Danielle, Jen, Heather, Evan, Austin, Deanna, Carson, Tanesha 

We were talking about the highlights of 2013 the other night, and one of the biggest things has been being a part of Community Group. At our last church, we weren't able to be involved in a group like this schedule-wise, but at this one, we've been a part of two (we went to one on Thursdays and then we were asked to host one on Mondays). Both have been such a blessing in our lives. 

We are thankful for the people we've been able to meet and call our true friends as well as brothers and sisters in Christ. We love that we're able to have them in our house each week, even if it is, as you can see, filling our house to the brim. We love spending time discussing the Word with them and love the accountability they bring in our lives. Each person in this group has different thoughts and insight to add to the discussion which makes it that much more meaningful. We're looking forward to our third semester of Community Group in 2014!