Christmas Festivities

Christian communities should be the BEST at celebrating Holidays (holy-days!) because God calls us both to REST (Duet. 5:14) and to REJOICE (Deut. 12:7) and to FEAST!! (Ex 23:14) So, when it comes time to play games, feast and sing together, and dress up in fun costumes?  Well, we do it up BIG!  If you’ve ever been lucky enough to be a part of Reformation Day, you know what I’m talking about!

...our desire is for hearts which are truly focused on the miracle of our Savior coming in the flesh and bringing His Light and Love to the whole earth.

So let me tell you about the festivities we’re enjoying this month! First, we have extra holiday happiness this year as for the VERY FIRST TIME, (since we now own our building,) we have been able to decorate any (and all) spaces for Christmas!  We have a large and wonderful tree in the Great Hall with a beautiful star all handed down to us by the Wenatchee Valley Baptist Church.  We’ve also set up our Giver’s Tree with cute (electric) candles in our Lobby to honor our donors, and the atmosphere is extremely festive with delightful Christmas carols playing all day long over the lobby speakers!   It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. 

If you read the last blog by our beloved Chaplain Nathan Hettick, you know that our desire is for hearts which are truly focused on the miracle of our Savior coming in the flesh and bringing His Light and Love to the whole earth. We rejoice in this truth by singing classic Christmas hymns during Psalm Sing.  Today, we had our last Psalm sing; Silent Night, Joy to the World and Away in a Manager.  These songs help us reflect on the story of Jesus' arrival and our joy at his coming.  

As Tyler mentioned in his blog recently about our Advent electives, we take celebrations so seriously here that we consider them part of our yearly curriculum.  Students choose from options such as playing snow football, assembling and delivering Candy Grams, knitting scarves or even quietly reading Dickens’ The Christmas Carol together while enjoying a cup of tea.  As for dressing up? Well, this week is Spirit Week and all week there will be a chance to sport Christmas themed accessories!  We’ll have kindergarteners in Whoo Hats, seniors wearing Rudolf ties and staff members sporting candy cane striped socks. To top it all off we close the calendar year with Ice Skating and then Tailgating at the Town Toyota Center after our last half-day.  

We love to celebrate the Reason AND the Season and we do it with intention, wholeheartedly and joyfully!

-Tonya Griffith, Principal

The River Academy