Many ask how I spend my Christmas so here is what a Prague Christmas for me is like.
First there are the last few weeks of school leading up to Christmas Holidays.
We celebrated Hanukkah ~ By making latkes
Baked and decorated cookies for the Christmas concert.
Practised and practised and practised for the upcoming Christmas concert.
December 10: Celebrating our 10 years of being a school
On the 10th of every month everyone in school dresses nice to commemorate our 10th year as a school.
December 14: CISP Christmas Concert
We took on the challenge this year of involving the entire school in this year's Christmas Program. In years past there would be a few songs from the elementary, perhaps a skit by the drama club and more songs from the High school choir. This year us ladies in the elementary decided we wanted simple but also wanted to involve the whole school. Any program involving the entire school is far from being simple but it was well done.
Grades 1-3 once again took on the challenge of reciting Luke 2: 1-18. I was concerned about the task being too much for this group since the majority of them are non-native English speakers. Yet my shock and amazement came from the least likely of sources. I have one girl in my class who rarely speaks in full sentences and is very shy about talking in general. One day while lining up to go home, I hear from the doorway Luke 2 being proclaimed clearly and loudly from this little girl with no prompting or encouragement. “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree…” all the way to verse 18. This group has surpassed all my expectations!We did the passage in two sections so I was able to record the first part of Luke 2:1-7
True to today's day and age when you have a question the first place many turn is to Google! So the kids Googled the meaning of Christmas and the result was our Christmas program! It is a little hard to explain how it all came together but in the end each piece found its place and everyone did a great job playing their part. To the left is the intro video that set the stage for our program.
December 19: Last day of school - Pyjama Day!
We had a fun day of wearing our PJs to school, playing games, drinking hot chocolate and watching the Polar Express.
December 21 ~ Staff Christmas party
- see previous post about White Elephant Gifts :)
December 22 ~ Decorate the Christmas Tree
Since our tree was a prop in the Christmas program we weren't able to set it up in our home until after the concert and finding the time to do so didn't come until Christmas break! There were plans to decorate a real baby fir tree that we had gotten from IKEA in October. We had named him Charlie and were excited to have him for Christmas. Alas in late November he was attacked by an army of aphids and there was no saving little Charlie. So a fake tree it had to be.
December 23 - Wandering the city
I am saddened by our lack of snow this Christmas. We do get snow in the Czech Republic but I have yet to experience having any on Christmas day!
December 24 - Christmas Eve a night of Great Food & Carp Stories
We were invited for a lovely Christmas dinner where our friend Jodi went above and beyond to make it special for us. Unable to find Christmas stockings she made us paper socks and filled gift bags with small treats. She slaved in the kitchen to make foods that made us at home. The wonderful meal was followed by fun fellowship and Christmas Carol singing.
Though we did not have the traditional Czech dish of carp, we did get to explore Jodi's collection of books containing two stories about the tradition of eating Christmas Carp. Becca read Carl the Christmas Carp for us and I had to record it. It's long but worth a listen as it shares some very Czech traditions.
December 25 ~ A Happy Orphaned Christmas
This year my flatmates were all here for Christmas and we decided to invite anyone else who did not have family or friends around to celebrate Christmas with. We called it our orphaned Christmas. After going to a Christmas church service we had Brunch and opened stockings. Though we had no stockings we improvised with socks from the local Kaufland. I introduced my friends to the joys of Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe and my favourite story of Dave and the turkey. Afterwards we lounged about sharing Christmas traditions and life stories.
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| Stockings under the tree |
The Lord of the Harvest
One of the most encouraging stories shared was from one of our friends who had left the Mormon faith and had become a Christian during my first year here. She shared about one of our CISP families who had left to return to the States after my first year. They were a Mormon family living in the Czech Republic as expatriates. They had been in our school for a couple of years and the seeds of the gospel were being planted in the hearts of their children. The stories of the Bible the children brought home with them caused their parents to question their beliefs in the Mormon Faith. After a few years of seeking and questioning they recently have decided to leave the Mormon church and continue seeking the God of the Bible.
Stories like this one remind me of how growth of the little seeds we plant continue even when the children leave our school. Our students become missionaries to their parents and their families. Though we may never see the fruit of our work, the seeds continue to grow and the Harvest will come.
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