Getting into the Christmas spirit

Hi Everyone, I hope everyone is doing well and that you have all your Christmas shopping completed. I wanted to write about a great opportunity I had yesterday... I got to share about Christmas traditions in America at my friend Jana's elementary school. I first spoke with 2nd graders and then during the following class period I spoke with 3rd graders. These children are just learning English and the most popular question they wanted to ask me was, "How old are you?". It was the one question that they all knew how to say.(LOL)

I gathered together pictures and ornaments to share and as I was leaving that morning, God gave me an unexpected gift left right on my doorstep--3 cards from the US. I could tell by the size of the envelopes that they had to be Christmas cards so I waited and had the children help me open them. It was great to tell them--"here is something from America." They were excited to hear a native speaker of English and learn about a different culture.
I even shared a couple of Christmas songs--the most popular one was "Up On the Rooftop". We even did a few motions to the song and sang it together.

Later that morning I was able to spend a little extra time with just my friend, Jana's class. When her students found out that I am studying Czech then they started just speaking Czech with me. They had a lot more questions for me. So I got the chance to practice my Czech with them. I was in awe as I sat and listened as my friend shared the Christmas story in Czech with her students. That story never gets old no matter what language it is shared in.

My prayer for you and for myself is that we stop during these hectic holiday moments and take time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and rejoice over the true gift that came to us during that very first Christmas. There is such a wonder and awe about it all.

Until next time take care!
Blessings,
Colleen