Pam Dudding
Contributing writer
Mountain View Church took advantage of Valentine’s Day by planning a dinner from scratch before attendees partook in the infamous game of “Hearts” for all to play on Saturday, February 15.
When people entered the building, the aroma of food in addition to the unique decorations warmed people’s hearts. Most people had arrived by 5 p.m. Name tags were placed at chairs and the waiters escorted everyone to their seats. They also offered to take coats and hang them up.
Claudia Huffman welcomed everyone individually and served them their drinks. Karen Reynolds started the evening by ringing the bell. When she did, everyone immediately knew to stop talking. Well, almost everyone. She rang it again, because people were having so much fun socializing.
She gave a warm welcome and the agenda of the evening was announced.
Charlie Stull shared that the meal for the special evening would include “filet mignon and”…but Reynolds interrupted him, explaining that the filet mignon was served at the 3 p.m. dinner. He then proceeded to correct himself that the meal would be, “chicken cordon bleu with asparagus…” but again Reynolds explained that was the meal served at 4 p.m. He then leaned into the kitchen and announced that the Chef Boyardee spaghetti and meatballs would soon be served. Laughter soon rang throughout the room.
The blessing was said, and waiters brought everyone’s dinner to the table. A meal of spaghetti (not Chef Boyar Dee), a tossed salad and roll was served and later a vanilla or chocolate cupcake with a heart on top was dessert.
Reynolds handed out heart shaped microphones, and as she announced the first two to three words of a song, whoever sang the rest of the song first, won a prize. As the contest went on, the singing got louder as people became either more comfortable or decided they didn’t care if they could carry a tune or not. The main objective was just to win the game. Many sang the songs together in joyous harmony.
The anxiousness of the evening ended as the hearts party started. Some were slow to throw the die to see if they could spell hearts with them while others were very competitive, rushing through, trying to be the team that got to 100 points first, which would win them a punch in their Valentine card.
Throughout the evening, if anyone got “H-E-A-R-T” or “H-E-A-R-T-S,” shrieks, laughter and shouts soon followed. Everyone seemed to join in on their victories.
At the end of the evening, Dana Nelson won the grand prize, which included a big cuddly teddy bear with a box of chocolates. Sarah Huffman won the boobie prize which was a small box of chocolates.
It was said that another game night may be coming up soon around another holiday which sparked hopes with many.
Reynolds and her helpers were quick to start taking the beautiful hearts and decorations down to save for another time.
As people left, hugs were exchanged, and laughter continued.
“We hope everyone had a great time,” Reynolds said before Stuff added, “We’ll see you all tomorrow.”
