Merry Christmas Cardinals! This week we light the 4th candle in the Advent wreath, the candle that symbolizes peace. In a world torn apart by the health pandemic, politics, religious beliefs, and other polarizing subjects, looking for and finding peace can certainly be a challenge.
We continued to be blessed with the grace of our community and the peace you offer us here at school. By supporting our ever-changing health mandates, providing financial assistance through the Christmas teacher bonus (75 donors, an all-time record), contributing to the Scholastic/Usborne Book Fair ($9,000 in sales, another all-time record), purchasing items from the staff wish lists, and volunteering (2,165 total hours this year), you provide a sense of peace and security to our community.
Here are some ways to offer the gift of peace during Christmas Break:
- Give school a break. Keep those emails until we all return in January. Allowing everyone, students and teachers, to get a true break away from school is needed. No grading. No lesson planning. No checking on Sycamore (you certainly can but no grades will be entered or modified during the break). Teachers have been instructed to unplug and detach from school. Please help them detach and relax by holding on to any emails, phone calls, texts, or Facebook messages until January. This would be the best gift of peace you could offer an educator this Christmas.
- Continue to pray for each other. Spend some time each day to be intentional in your prayer life. Five minutes before the kids get up or five minutes before bed. I downloaded the app "Hallow" that has so many options for prayers for adults, kids, or a family.
- Go to Mass. Click here for Mass times at St. Cecilia Cathedral. If you can't make it to the Cathedral, make it to another Church. Kids love checking out other parishes so this could be a fun way to get them to Mass!
- Help a neighbor. Everyone has someone in their life who needs support this Christmas season. Make cookies and deliver them to a neighbor who spends time alone. Visit a grandparent for coffee or tea. Write a letter or FaceTime a family member who lives fair away.
- Be present. This Christmas season be truly present with your family. Put the phones down at family get-togethers. Dust off those board games or puzzles. Enjoy pancakes in the morning or hot chocolate at night. Give attention to the people in the room with you.
We wish each of our families a very Merry Christmas. Remember the school office will be closed from December 22 - January 5, with school resuming on January 6th. If you need to report a COVID+ student or direct contact with a COVID+ individual, see the link below. Thank you for a wonderful 2021 and we look forward to seeing what the new year has in store for us at St. Cecilia!
Christmas Blessings,
Julia
