The yearly spectacle

The past couple of weeks have been extremely interesting and activity-packed times at CSC. Emotional, too. Six of our kids left for adoption in the week before Christmas; they had all been with us for more than four years. Saying goodbye is never easy, but doing so right before Christmas is even tougher, at least for me. So many of my great memories of them are from Christmas pageants, recitals and parties. I can remember when they received their first gifts, or sang solos or played their instruments publicly for the first time.

But the reality of life at CSC is that, even as we wipe tears out of our eyes as kids are leaving, we greet new ones who are being admitted to the Shelter. Since the beginning of December seven kids have come to live with us, and the whole series of "firsts" begins again.

It is really hard to capture in words what Christmas is like here at CSC. It is, in some ways, a crazy time, with lots of activities, fun, laughter, music and surprises. It is a time for the staff to pour themselves into planning, arranging, creating, purchasing, wrapping, decorating, baking, encouraging.... giving. Although we do a lot of those things throughout the year, the intensity goes up five notches for Christmas. And although we all breathe a sigh of relief on Christmas night when the pageant is over and the last manger animal is led out of the Teen Home yard, we know good and well that next year we'll enjoy all the same activities and work. Because next year, and every year, there will be new kids at CSC who have never experienced Christmas before.

For the CSC kids who have left the shelter and are with their adoptive families, or are now parents themselves, trying to establish their own family tradions, we hope that their memories of Christmas as CSC will be precious ones - times when they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were treasured by us and where they developed special feelings about this wonderful time of the year.

If you are thinking that Christmas is a somber and sacred time at CSC, you are right, and very wrong. There is some of that. But, on the other hand, one of the veteran staff members sang a rousing version of "Walking in my Winter Underwear" this year!