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We are in very unique times and life, including celebrating our faith, has not allowed for our usual routines and practices. For this reason, we thought we would share how some of your fellow parishioners have been dealing with our current situation and celebrating their faith. We hope it will inspire you to be creative in how you live your life, as well as celebrate and share your faith within your family and those around you.
If you have a story you would like to share with us, please email Cathy Zimmer (czimmer@dol.ca). Please note: It is not guaranteed that all stories will be placed on our website, depending on a few factors, but please feel free to submit.
Click the tabs below to see each story. (keep scrolling, there are 2 sections)
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How are you Advent-ing?
Advent is here! As we prepare for the Christmas season, we reflect on what are the important traditions we would like to ensure continue and one that we hold dear to our heart is our faith. This year is like no other. We are unable to attend church physically since March. Zoey (my four year old) often asks to go back to church every Sunday and attend Sunday friends. She wants to grow her knowledge and it is our responsibility as her parents to help her and her sisters understand and appreciate what Christmas really means.
With all this in mind, we decided to hold weekly family advent parties. So today we had our first advent party (with grandma and grandpa as you can see in the picture). We talked about advent and how the word means coming. We lit the candle of hope. We prayed. We ate. And we read the Christmas story. Although it wasn’t the norm, it was definitely special!
As you and your family celebrate this Christmas Season, we hope you get creative to continue with the traditions that you hold close to your heart and create special memories with those you love.
Submitted by Cindy & Peter Allen and their children
Zoey (4 yrs old), Alivia (2 yrs old) & newest addition, Isabelle (9 wks old)
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This is Sunday mornings for us now. Church in our living room! We miss seeing everyone and our old routine, but are grateful that we can still be a part of our faith community safely from our living room.
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This starts with us being excited for Christmas because we love family so we decided to go to Sloan’s Christmas Village. The kids had a blast as they had hot cocoa and hot apple cider. The best part was the activities they had for the children, they had zip lines, 360 swings, obstacle courses, Hay maze and etc. The kids had a blast and with the pandemic upon us it was amazing to see how many people showed up to spend time with their families and have fun. Spending time with your family is the best part for Christmas and this reminded me of the joy of Christmas!
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I think the key for our family is trying to keep the normal in our everyday lives. We may have smaller networks of people we physically associate with, but we are certainly staying in touch with family and friends that aren't closeby through daily phone calls, zoom birthdays, videos and pictures from our days. Lots of walks, bike rides, and playing in the backyard keep us connected with nature and it's also a nice reminder that life is still going on - that there is lots of life still out there. Things have been easier these last few months as our oldest started the milestone of jk and our littlest little started daycare. We have been blessed with new people coming into our lives that are feeling the same way and experiencing the same challenges. I honestly can't complain - 2020 was a good year for us. We had a baby last October so was blessed to not have the extra stress of work on top of the pandemic. Some days were easier than others, but hey we are still here! So many family activities, but some of our best were our little guys getting more comfortable with the pool - to the point where our oldest was doing somersaults into the water. He also learnt how to ride his bike, and our littlest little went from baby carrier to push car to walking to RUNNING down the path with us. Most recently, visiting a Christmas tree farm, taking family photos, cutting down then decorating our tree, and then using the tree trimmings to make a makeshift advent wreath for our kitchen table. Since our oldest started jk, he is learning about God and Jesus and how important it is to be kind to others. "Mom, was that very kind of me?" He will randomly start praying in the car, or grab one of our books off the bookshelf and tell us not to bug him because he is reading his big Jesus book (which is actually a book about potty training). Children are so full of life and we are grateful for this time with them.
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This is a picture of Rhetter’s baptism on December 12, at St. Joseph’s. Deacon Chris did an awesome job! We are so excited that Rhetter is baptized now; his first sacrament.
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A story from Emily: Her aunt/Godmother is having a baby and Emily can't wait until it's safe for us to meet him so she can start helping out with new cousin.
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The St. Angela Merici staff and students are grateful for the donation of the nativity from the Chatham Catholic Family of Parishes. It held a special place of honour in our foyer alongside our Christmas tree that was decorated with hand made ornaments from all of our students. It is a special gift that we will treasure each year as we place it in our foyer for our students to see.
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Each child preparing for First Communion received a package from Ali Chinnick with activities for Sunday Gospels in the next month. Taylor loved doing the word search!
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