Nativity Parish started the church season of Advent with their annual St. Nicholas Basket assembly. Many parish children brought food items on the Wednesday evenings they had Faith Formation sessions. This year they asked the entire congregation for their support by bringing food items to masses during November. On Wed., Dec. 2, children and parents gathered for song (Fr. Gary & the Youth Choir leading) in the worship space. During the evening Bishop Nicholas visited the assembly, sharing his life story & why we celebrate his feast day on Dec. 6. All gathered proceeded to their classrooms or to the gym. Along the way, the children removed their shoes, lining them along the hallway. The older children listened to their catechists as they told them a little more about Advent. The first & second grade children & their families listened to Advent stories in the gym. Next, all families met in the gym, received “green” shopping bags donated by Target, Sunmart & Gate City Bank. The families filled their shopping bags with the collected food items & candy canes. The children colored St. Nicholas cards & wrote a note, attaching these to their St. Nicholas basket. Everyone enjoyed warm, aromatic cider together. After all of the baskets were placed in the Fireside Room, they totaled 70!, the children walked back through the hallway to the gym. St. Nicholas had filled THEIR shoes with candy canes! Fr. Gary & Day Break (Mike Vosberg & Jameson Schadler) provided music while all of the students, their families, catechists & the WOW students practiced Christmas carols. It was an enthusiastic-charged evening! This year, something new to the program was the addition of the St. Nicholas Basket Committee. These ladies planned, divided up tasks to accomplish before the evening & were busy elves the day of & during the evening itself. The committee consists of: Leola Daul, Sheila Gullickson, Deb Johnson, Jill Koch & her daughters, Connie O’Learly & McKayla, Joann E. Peterson, Fidelis Sivertson & Beth, Kathy Sjostrom, Phyllis Stoa, Linda Wolbaum & Jamie Zastoupil. Thank you to everyone who provided food & assistance in any way to make this an educational, faith-filled, community service project for our students together with our parish! The St. Nicholas baskets will be given to the Nokomis Childcare Center where they will be distributed to their families.
Our Faith Formation Program has been incorporating community service projects into the curriculum over the last few years and now we would like to expand our projects by asking the parish to help us when they can. First, we are going to slow down to focus on preparing our hearts for Christmas. Then in January, we will be doing a fleece blanket project simultaneously with our annual spaghetti dinner. In February, we will be making Valentines for Vets which will go to veterans at the VA Hospital in Fargo & having the Mardi Gras talent show for everyone on Fat Tuesday! The Lenten season is also the start of the annual project led by our 5th & 6th grade students, the Heifer Project which concludes with a walk & celebration. In March, there will be a new Taco Bar…In May, we have the annual Spring Salad Buffet.
We are a busy group & we are getting things done! What we want to let everyone know is we welcome any support from the entire parish, but also that anyone in the parish is welcome at any time to join us with any of our activities. For now we need to reflect, center ourselves & our lives around Jesus & our faith so that we are ready to become the disciples we are being called to be. Shhh-listen. Do you hear what I hear?
written by Susan McCullough, parishioner and Elementary Cathchist Coordinator
