Chocolate Celebration!

Three years ago, I served as a volunteer photographer for the Chocolate Celebration here in town. It's a huge fundraiser for a local nonprofit and this year marked its 18th year as an event. People have come to know and love the Chocolate Celebration, and it's a pretty big deal.

This year, I served as the liaison between the church and the director of the nonprofit, because Abagail (whose job I'm filling at the moment) normally does that. Talk about big shoes to fill! Abagail is a seamless and classy event coordinator who makes everything at the church happen without a visible hiccup.

And then came the year of Bekah.

I had pages of lists. Things to check on. Things to do two days before. The day before. The day of. People to call. Items to track down. Things to double-check. I was a terrified wreck that I would somehow single-handedly destroy an 18-year-old beloved fundraiser.

It takes a village to put on this event, as all the people at the nonprofit would tell you, but it took a village for me, too, and I'm grateful for the one I had.

It started in the wee hours with this guy, who got up extra early with me, drove me to the church (via a donut and cough drop stop) and helped me get coffee made for all the volunteers and lights on/doors opened before the work day officially began.

As the first volunteers were arriving, he packed up and headed back to his own work, and I carried on letting people in and making sure last minute issues were figured out.

We were a very small staff that day at the church, and I was so glad the staff pastor helping me let me take multiple breaks to go check out all the fun stuff happening at the celebration! And I was glad one of the girls in our church who makes cute jewelry stopped by with her latest stash:

The closer we got to the start time, the more the church lobby filled up with waiting people, and before we knew it, the gates open and the madness began!

I was so so so excited, because one of the ladies on my ministry team stopped by with her kids and her nieces that she helps care for. With so many kids in tow, I asked if I could watch the baby for her so she could have a little more freedom. She said yes, and I was in HEAVEN!!!!!

One of the booths even had Belle and the Beast helping them serve chocolate, and I don't think I need to tell you how much I lost my mind with joy over that. Alas, timing did not work out for me to get a picture with them. So just trust me: they were cute!

Ryan took the afternoon off work, met me for lunch (at the church) and then stayed for the afternoon to help our maintenance crew clean up and reassemble the church when the celebration was over.

And so it was that about an hour after quitting time, we were able to go home and hunker down with some pizza. It was a whole different side to the Chocolate Celebration, but it was still a really fun day. (And I'm still all warm and fuzzy over that darling baby!)