"Oh Come All Ye Faithful...."
was among the songs sung at Emma's annual Christmas Program on Tuesday night. The auditorium was stuffed from wall to wall with parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and everyone in between.
The packed house was wonderful to witness. It has been obvious to me that there has been a migration away from the Christ centered Christmas. Secularizing Christmas into a, plain ol' vanilla sort of holiday. I truly feel that it makes little sense to completely ignore all religious connections to Christmas, but hey, I'm an open minded person (insert laugh and snort), so I think it would also be wrong to assume that those religious connections are all that matter or that everyone shares the same religious beliefs about the season. I am, however, very grateful that Miss J belongs to a school that focuses on the reason we celebrate Christmas; the birth of Jesus.
Every year when we gather together for this event, I am reminded why we made the decision to enroll Miss J in Sacred Heart Catholic School. We certainly didn't take this decision lightly, or make it in haste. Both Gym Dad and I were brought up Protestant. Would this/should this be a deal breaker? Thankfully the answer was no. SH offered small classrooms, a small student body and a sense of community that the public school lacked. SH students are taught to exercise good manners, self discipline and to respect others. All are essential values we hope to instill in Miss J.
