Christmas Trees

Well the Christmas celebrations have come and gone. The season is always filled with anticipation, build-up, and much joy. As I write this, I am currently on a four day break for New Year's. It is a much needed time of rest and relaxation, as I set to finish out the final three weeks of the semester. Over the next couple of blog entries I would like to reflect a little on the Christmas season and share a couple of experiences that stand out in my mind.

Each year the students of Concordia Middle School have a Christmas Song Competition and Christmas Tree Decorating Contest. For the tree decorating contest, each class is given a tree in the main courtyard of campus. They must decorate the tree to show a story from the Bible. The classes are given suggestions, but they can choose any story they would like.


The trees by the courtyard.

To decorate the trees the students must use recyclable products. Many students uses boxes, newspapers, and bottles to create elaborate decorations for the tree. In the 2 weeks prior to Christmas you can see homerooms filled with partially created decorations, and the students are allowed to use class time to create decorations. I allow each class to have one class period before Christmas that they can use to prepare for the activities.


Senior 2 (11th Grade) Class A: Moses and the Red Sea.



Senior 2 (11th Grade) Class F: Simon Peter, a fisher of men.



On Christmas Eve, the school holds the song competition in the morning and the afternoon. When they are not singing, students are outside decorating the trees. Then in the evening the kids are allowed to stay on campus until 8:30. They light the Christmas trees and can walk around and look at the other class' finished products.


Christmas Trees at night. Picture from my first year in Taiwan.


I think this is the most beautiful time of the year. I treasure the chance to walk around and look at the trees when they are lit up. The school leaves the trees up for a couple of days and each night lights them for people to enjoy.

This year on Christmas Day I went out and enjoyed a quiet evening, walking around and looking at the tress. I love the look of the lights glowing in the dark. I love seeing the different recreations of famous Bible Studies. I love seeing all of the hard work that my students put into making their trees.

I took time to stop at each tree created by my students and former students. I carefully looked at in and thought of the kids in those classes. I took a little time to pray for the kids in the classes. It was a quite, peaceful, heartwarming way to spend part of my Christmas Day.