How do you celebrate Christmas? Do your celebrations include music and singing Christmas carols, like The First Noel and Silent Night? Lights and decorations? Dressing in red and green or wearing an ugly Christmas sweater? Stockings hung by the chimney with care? Playing games with family? Watching a Christmas movie? Reflections on Jesus’ birth?

We had it all in the MS and HS this year! Beautiful music filled our ears and our hearts as our middle school and high school bands and choirs put on our first ever virtual concert for the TCS family. Under the brilliant direction of Mr. Carroll, Mr. da Costa and Mr. Cordeiro, our music groups performed selections which included Jingle Bells, Joy to World, Go Tell it on the Mountain and Silent Night.

Student leadership brought great fun to our school in the days leading up to Christmas. The HS Student Council ran our first hallway decorating competition. Students outdid themselves in working together as each grade “Decked their Hall” with lights, wreaths, Christmas trees, stockings, wrapping paper and scenes from Bethlehem. The seniors blew us away with their cozy fireplace scene complete with stockings, Christmas tree, reading chair and bookshelves filled with personalized books written by each teacher. In the middle school, the leadership class sponsored Christmas dress up days and got experience planning and running tug-of-war competitions, basketball shooting contests and a scavenger hunt.

When Mrs. Nelson and the high school theatre students heard that the MS students were not going to get to see a performance of A Christmas Carol like they traditionally have done, they quickly responded to the plight. In true Christmas spirit, they decided that in just three weeks,
they could pull off a readers’ theatre version of the famous Dickens’ story so the middle school students would not miss out on the fun of seeing this classic tale. Students and directors worked hard after school and were able to do two outstanding performances for the middle school and the high school on the last day of school before Christmas break. What a blessing to see our students use their talents to minister to others, bring joy to classmates and meet needs right here in our own school.