Many thanks to our families for the gracious way in which the congregation respected the sacredness of our church space on Tuesday night. Overwhelmingly, we have received positive feedback about this event as it really was a meaningful and prayerful experience. The students were like angels and rose to the occasion in an inspiring way. In schools, at this time of year, staff put in a lot of work to ensure these events come together in the best possible way so it has been lovely to receive these emails and face-to-face votes of gratitude.

Christmas can be celebrated in so many different ways. Some families love to do the Christmas ham or turkey in a big way. Some folks love to do Kris Kringle gift giving. Some like to try and preserve the northern hemisphere experience with sleigh and snow decorations. Some like to contextualise the Christmas dinner for the Aussie summer by doing the seafood thing. When you go to shopping centres you are inundated with the commercial Christmas experience from as early as October! We, as a Catholic primary school, have the opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the ‘God is with us’ gift – that is the nucleus and true meaning of how Christmas celebrations have developed over the last two thousand years.

This is why our beautiful Carols Night was true to the ‘birth of Jesus’ message. This is why the students wore Christmas colours, angel wings and crowns and stood respectfully in front of the altar space of the church. There are plenty of opportunities for families to celebrate Christmas in all its myriad of ways during this season. This was our chance to celebrate with the Christian Tradition. Put together, all of these celebrations make a very meaningful and fun time of year.