End of the Year Party

Last night, we had our end of the year staff party. It was such a wonderful night, and a great example of why the 2009 staff is so awesome!

We started the evening with Praise and Worship, during which I was able to thank them for their hard work this summer and it was a nice way to come together as a staff.

P&W was followed by dinner. Almost everyone had spent the entire day preparing for the evening in some way or another. Some were decorating, some were cooking- so when it was dinner time, we had everything ready to go and we just took it our of the over or refrigerator. We had planned to grill, but it had rained all day, so we moved the party inside. Instead of being in my house or the dining hall, some staff had set up the meeting room table. They set out the plates and silverware, put out candles, flowers, etc. It looked so nice. We had a great dinner and afterwards, I handed out memory books, staff photos, lead staff gifts and nice black fleece sweatshirts for everyone. Everyone was excited to get gifts and look through the memory books and it was wonderful!

This wasn't just a dinner party though, this was a multi-event evening. After dinner, we headed to the art barn, which P, S, and An had spent literally all day decorating. They had hung long pieces of fabric from the ceiling, completely covering the walls. Took out the big tables, and replaced them with comfy chairs and small round tables. They turned off the lights and filled the whole place with candles. Earlier in the day, some of us had made several pitchers of "mocktails" with blended drink mix, and so we enjoyed dessert and "drinks" in the lounge. They worked so hard and it looked beautiful, nothing like the art barn, and it was wonderful!

We eventually turned on the music and had a rockin' dance party. I was EXHAUSTED, but dancing was a blast and they had worked so hard to set up the art barn, that I decided to stay until everyone was done. In the end, it was just S, P, An, J and I dancing like crazy and sweating so much our clothes were soaked. It was so humid and hot, and so we decided to run down to the beach and jump, fully clothed, into the lake. The water was so warm and it was a great way to cool off.

They had planned a late night movie (also in the art barn) and I wasn't planning to go, but after I dried off from the lake, I went back, just to check it out and ended up staying for the whole movie. Olivia was also there, eating popcorn by the handful, which she enjoyed immensely. I didn't go to sleep until 1am, but it was a fantastic night. Everyone worked together to have fun and put together a great last night. I don't usually participate in weekend staff events. It is difficult to hang out and have fun as a peer and then transition back to being the boss. But last night was fun and carefree and I didn't have to be in charge and could just have fun. I am really going to miss this group of staff and I am sad the summer is coming to an end!