Each year attending Whitehall Campmeeting brings new memories. As much a family reunion for my side of the family as a spiritual retreat, we look forward to it every August. Relatives of mine from Florida, New Jersey, Virigina and Texas descend upon the campgrounds and set up housekeeping for a week to ten days in campers, tents and cottages. After being a cottage owner for 15 years or so myself, I now stay in a bed and breakfast, in town, with my sisters.
Our act of moving off the campground to find shelter has been met with a lot of skepticism from the extended family (EVERYBODY HAS AN OPINION !!) We do our best to stay in camp mode and partake of camp activities even though we now have more comfortable and luxurious surroundings than those pitching a tent.
One of those activities that is a tradition during camp week is to have several family bonfires. Sometimes my parents host the campfire at their RV, or my brother does at his; other relatives take their turn as well. Mountain pies, S'mores, and hot dogs are staples at these evening gatherings. Some hostesses go way overboard on providing snacks and drinks of all shapes and kinds (note: everything that is carried outside to the campfire must at some point late in the evening be carried back in!)
The men joke about the size of "their fire"; the smoke or lack thereof; and their manly ability to maintain the fire for the duration of the event.
Last year we had a memorable campfire when we asked everyone to reveal the story of how they first met and fell in love with their spouse. A family of (mostly) gifted storytellers, we laughed til we cried.
So this year we decided to do "a rose and a thorn from past camp memories".
(A rose and a thorn is an icebreaker game that we use several times a year at our small group Bible study.....a rose being somethng good that has happened that week; a thorn being something negative)
Most campfire attendees got into the spirit of the game and related some hilarious stories. Some had been forgotten through the years; some had never been told in public before. SOME SHOULD NEVER BE TOLD IN PUBLIC AGAIN.
I found it to be a great opportunity for people to reveal themselves, to create stronger bonds of family unity and spark a memory-making moment. I think we came to know each other a little better that dark night behind my parents RV, sitting around the roaring fire that Brian made and kept going with his infamous firestick.
Long live campmeeting campfires!
Our act of moving off the campground to find shelter has been met with a lot of skepticism from the extended family (EVERYBODY HAS AN OPINION !!) We do our best to stay in camp mode and partake of camp activities even though we now have more comfortable and luxurious surroundings than those pitching a tent.
One of those activities that is a tradition during camp week is to have several family bonfires. Sometimes my parents host the campfire at their RV, or my brother does at his; other relatives take their turn as well. Mountain pies, S'mores, and hot dogs are staples at these evening gatherings. Some hostesses go way overboard on providing snacks and drinks of all shapes and kinds (note: everything that is carried outside to the campfire must at some point late in the evening be carried back in!)
The men joke about the size of "their fire"; the smoke or lack thereof; and their manly ability to maintain the fire for the duration of the event.
Last year we had a memorable campfire when we asked everyone to reveal the story of how they first met and fell in love with their spouse. A family of (mostly) gifted storytellers, we laughed til we cried.
So this year we decided to do "a rose and a thorn from past camp memories".
(A rose and a thorn is an icebreaker game that we use several times a year at our small group Bible study.....a rose being somethng good that has happened that week; a thorn being something negative)
Most campfire attendees got into the spirit of the game and related some hilarious stories. Some had been forgotten through the years; some had never been told in public before. SOME SHOULD NEVER BE TOLD IN PUBLIC AGAIN.
I found it to be a great opportunity for people to reveal themselves, to create stronger bonds of family unity and spark a memory-making moment. I think we came to know each other a little better that dark night behind my parents RV, sitting around the roaring fire that Brian made and kept going with his infamous firestick.
Long live campmeeting campfires!
1 comment:
Sounds like a great time!
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