Christmas party

The staff gathered at the home of Sister Maureen Freeman and Sister P.B. Bounk yesterday for our annual Christmas party.

The home was decorated beautifully for the season and we all tried to guess how many strands of lights adorned the brightly decorated Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. Lots! It was great!

Jeremy and Tristand kept adding logs to the fire that popped and cracked. There were amazing sights, sounds and smells of Christmas.

Elaine and Tristand were the winners of the two games of pass the "snowball." Then it was time for the gift exchange. There were handmade gifts like a beeswax candle and shopping bag and locally produced gifts such as a bottle of wine from Oliver Winery. It was fun to see what everyone gave and received.

By this time the vegetable lasagna from Market Bella Rosa in Terre Haute and the onion pie made by Sister Jean were heated and ready to eat.

Ten of us fit perfectly around the festive dining room table as we enjoyed the delicious meal. It was so good!

The goodness didn't stop there. For dessert we enjoyed chocolate stout cake make by Candace (complete with some of their homemade beer as leavening), homemade cookies from Chad and some sugar coated pecans I threw together.

The time spent together sitting around the table telling funny and interesting stories was priceless. It was a memorable time together.

We wish everyone memorable moments with family and friends this season.

Merry Christmas from the staff, volunteers and alpacas at White Violet Center!

(Caption: sitting in the center is Elaine Yaw, at left, and Sister Ruth Johnson; standing from left are, Sister Jean Fuqua, Sister Maureen Freeman, Candace Minster, Sister P.B. Bounk, Sister Jeanne Knoerle, Jeremy McKenzie, Chad Beck and Tristand Tucker.)