While Christmas has become a bit of a commercialized frenzy of consumerism, the humble roots of its origin were on full display at St. John’s Lutheran Church on December 7 for their annual SCUBA-themed Christmas for Kids.
The event gave the congregation’s youth a retelling of the birth of Jesus Christ and Pastor Jeff Enderle led a group of 20 or so kids, but some older members of the church were present and served as volunteer leadership. Many of the children wore hats with pictures of aquatic animals like octopus, killer whales, seahorses, and others as Enderle detailed the origin of Christ’s birth in the manger and he would encourage the kids to help fill in the blanks. In between certain segments of the tale, the group would participate in a sing-a-long of sorts to Christmas songs like “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” and it was an entertaining time for the children as there was a little bit of choreography to go along with the song.
Enderle would conclude the story of the birth of Christ and would soon try his hand at some close-up magic; he attempted to conceal Whalen the Whale inside one of three paper cups, but let’s just say his sleight of hand wasn’t convincing enough to fool the kids as they selected the right cup almost instantly. In fact, one of the kids admitted they could “see the toy’s string the entire time” which received some hearty laughter from the group while Enderle shook his head in bewilderment. Practice makes perfect, Pastor!
Shortly after the retelling of the birth of Christ, the massive group would now break up into two separate groups (Red and Green). It was a Freitag frenzy as Grace and Marshall led one group upstairs to craft their very own angel ornaments while their mother Erin and Casey Walechka joined the other group in making some colorful Christmas-themed sugar cookies. Grace has been a part of Christmas for Kids since, well, she was a kid, and she noted the event has “certainly changed over the years.” She admitted to “living vicariously” through the kids and seemed to enjoy being one of the leaders of the group, “It’s been really fun to be a part of this as one of the youth leaders, and to see the kids so happy makes me happy.”
The birth of Jesus Christ remains a mainstay for the holiday, and focusing on that particular moment outweighs the hustle and bustle of what it has become in recent years. So it’s no surprise that Christmas for Kids has been a longstanding tradition at St. John’s Lutheran as it presents a welcomed escape from the mass commercialization of a holiday that is a symbolic time for the Christian faith.
