THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR

 

The winter holidays are fast approaching (only 99 days ‘til the new year!), and the annual conundrum looms: how will we handle Christmas this year??? Torn between the need to acknowledge and respect the full range of traditions practiced in our communities and the ever-growing seasonal frenzy building up outside the school walls, schools are caught in a difficult trap: how do we fairly balance the needs of all members of our extended school family?

 

It’s a confusing time of year, with television and store windows and mall Santas heralding  “Christmas,” while a growing number of children come from families that practice other traditions. As more schools back away from traditional “holiday” activity (Christmas carols and classroom decorations and “secret santa” gift-giving rituals)  -  either out of respect for other cultures or for fear of litigation  -  the children are often left with a sense that school is disconnected from the rest of the world. [“Don’t they know it’s Christmas??!?”]

 

As the son of a Jewish father and a Catholic mother (and the father of three local school-aged children who do love a good party...), I’ve decided to throw my hat into the ring. I’ve developed a program called “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” It is designed to:

 

       *  acknowledge that it’s a festive  time of year, but to do so with a focus on inclusion.   We’ll do a little                                   Christmas, but we’ll also do a little Hannukah, and a little bit of Ramadan, and a little bit of Kwanzaa. I’ll stress the             simple act of greeting people with “Happy Holidays” over “Merry Xmas!”

 

• give a bit of historical continuity (do you realize that people all over the world have found this to be a special time, for many of the same reasons: the long dark season; the cold and ice and snow (conditions most conducive to slowing down and reflecting: the common denominator of almost all spiritual endeavors...)?

 

The program consists of songs and stories of most of the holidays (Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa) along with symbols and artifacts of the less familiar holidays. We’ll touch on proper pronunciation of new vocabulary words (“Baruch ata adonai”; “assalamu alaikum”; yuletide; menorah; umoja…), and provide an understandable and entertaining description of the practices and histories behind the different celebrations.

 

Length: 45-75 minutes (as fits)  *  Audience: Grades 2-5

Available only in the month of December.

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