Well, the holiday season is here! The world is still not quite what we knew it to be, but we hope to bring a little light to the end of our year. As we try to find new rhythms that work for us we cling to the truth that God is still the same. He is still in charge! And we can trust him! We are doing the best we can, even if it feels like utter failure and frustration.
We would like to celebrate our Savior's birth with a good old fashioned secret Santa gift exchange! We will be delivering our gifts to one another over the weekend of December 4th-6th.
This is meant to be fun and easy, but we do understand that this is a new idea and might be a bit harder than it would normally be. We promise to help you be fully involved! If any of this doesn’t make sense or if you need help shopping/delivering a gift please reach out and we will provide any and all assistance we can.
We have set up a spreadsheet for us to sign up for the gift exchange. This one spreadsheet will also be where you pick the person you would like to give a gift to. We thought it would be fun for each of us to have the opportunity to offer ideas for our gifts as well. For example, you could let us know you like candles, or that you collect ornaments, or that you could use some help with a bill, or let us know that book you are dying to read, whatever you want or need. The sky's the limit here! If you would rather be surprised then just leave that space blank.
Once you find a woman you would like to get a gift for simply put an “X” in the column labeled “This gift has been claimed”
If you would like to remain anonymous please contact Tara Applegate at tarajo315@gmail.com or (989) 859-7147 and we would be honored to get your need posted. Again, no idea is a bad idea. This is like being a kid and asking Santa for that super special gift we never thought we would get. But this time we are adults and we are asking our church family to help make our dreams come true! How special is that!
As an added bit of fun, we have a second page on this same spreadsheet. (Look down in the bottom left corner and you will see two tabs, you can easily switch between the two pages here.) This is a place where you can let women know what you have to offer. Say you love to bake and my kid needs to take 2 dozen cookies to the school holiday party. This is a gift to both of us! The sky’s the limit here as well! God can use us and the gifts and talents he gave us to bless one another. If you love organizing you could offer to help clean a closet, if you are a professional and love helping people with their resume you could offer to help your sister out finding her dream job.
It is our hope that this brings great joy and many blessings to each of you this holiday season!
Here is the link to the Giving Christmas spreadsheet! We can’t wait to spend the weekend blessing each other in the love of Jesus!
The VineyardWOMEN ministry team