Prince of Peace School

   Last Sunday, we began the beautiful season of Advent.  It begins a new Church year with hope and freshness. The late Pope John Paul II in his address on December 18, 2002 said, "The liturgy of Advent...helps us to understand fully the value and meaning of the mystery of Christmas. It is not just about commemorating the historical event, which occurred some 2,000 years ago in a little village of Judea. Instead, it is necessary to understand that the whole of our life must be an ‘advent,' a vigilant awaiting of the final coming of Christ. To predispose our mind to welcome the Lord who will one day come to judge the living and the dead, we must learn to recognize him as present in the events of daily life. Therefore, Advent is, so to speak, an intense training that directs us toward him who already came, who will come, and who comes continuously."

As our theme this year is to "Discover the Treasures of God", we focus this month of December on the traditions of Advent and Christmas. Each student will write his/her favorite Advent or Christmas family traditions on an ornament and place it on a tree outside each classroom door.  All students in each class will be invited to look at all the ornaments on each tree to discover all the wonderful Christmas traditions celebrated by the families of Prince of Peace School.  As a school, we celebrated a special prayer service to begin the season of Advent focusing on acts of kindness written down on paper straw placed in the empty crib to make it warm and comfortable for the coming of the Baby Jesus.  The crib is on the 2nd floor landing and is a daily reminder of all we can do to prepare for Christ's coming at Christmas.

Take time to be aware that in the very midst of our busy preparations for the celebration of Christ's birth in ancient Bethlehem, Christ is reborn in the Bethlehems of our homes and daily lives. Take time, slow down, be still, be awake to the Divine Mystery that looks so common and so ordinary yet is wondrously present.

Christmas is not simply the remembrance of the Event that took place 2000 years ago when, according to the Gospel, the power of God took on the frailty of a baby. It is really about a living reality that is repeated every year in the heart of believers. May each of us have the heart of a believer and welcome the birth of Christ into homes this Christmas!
In His love!

"THE NEXT NOEL"

Prince of Peace

Christmas Program

"The Next Noel", a sequel to last year's production "The First Leon" (Noel spelled backwards), is a musical which will be performed by students in Grades K-8.  It is both a heartwarming and an entertaining re-enactment of the Christmas Story.  Please join us on Wednesday, December 12 at 7:00PM at Prince of Peace auditorium.  It will be a great way to put yourself in the true Christmas spirit.  We thank Mrs. Anna Beth Wynn, our music teacher, for working with the students to put on this production.

SCHOOL CLOSING

The arrival of the cold weather brings about the necessity of each family knowing the procedure to find out if there is a school closing or delay.  Here is a way to find out if we are having a closing or delay:

1. Check your email.  If you have given us an email address for our school directory, we will email you the information as soon as a decision is made.  Please let Virginia know any changes or additions to be made to our list.

2. Listen to the radio or TV.  We will be listed on all 3 TV channels (5, 9, and 12) if we are doing something other than having school and starting at regular time, it will be announced "PRINCE OF PEACE-COVINGTON...".  There is a Prince of Peace in Cincinnati, so please listen for the "COVINGTON" connected to our school name.

3. Prince of Peace School does not close or delay easily.  If you believe that conditions are too risky, you are free to make the choice to keep your child(ren) home.

NUTRITION

NUGGET

Did you know?

By Maggie Green

Health and Wellness Committee Chair

As a result of the Diocesan Wellness Policy, Christie Bricking, the cafeteria manager at Prince of Peace, has been working to improve the nutritional value of the school meals. I talked with her about what she has been doing for the kids. Here is a flavor of what's going on. Wonder-Kids bread^® is served at all meals.  Just in case you're "wondering", Wonder Kids bread^® special recipe bread is specially designed to provide the extra nutrition kids need to help build strong bodies.   This bread has all the fiber of 100% whole wheat bread and many of its nutrients. 2 slices of Wonder Kids bread contain as much Calcium as a glass of milk.  That's 1/3 of the daily requirement of calcium for children. The cafeteria ...

Serves white, chocolate or strawberry fat free milk instead of 2%  or whole milk.

Offers 100 % fruit juices: apple, orange and fruit punch, instead of fruit juice beverages that contained less that 10% real fruit juice.

Yogurt and fresh fruit are available for breakfast.

On one Friday out of the month the pizza is low-fat pizza, with no one noticing the difference. 

Serves dessert only once a week.

Switched corn dogs to turkey corn dogs.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please contact Christie or me.

WINTER DRESS CODE

Girls may wear tights of navy blue, black or white along with socks and uniform skirt or jumper.  Or girls may wear regulation navy blue uniform pants instead of the skirt (NOT under the skirt).  A plain white turtleneck may be worn under the shirt or blouse (not alone) in cold weather only. No team uniform sweatshirts may be worn.  The Prince of Peace blue uniform sweatshirts is our official sweatshirt. Please note:  shirts and blouses should be tucked in at all times, clothes should be clean and orderly, and hair should be well-groomed.

CHRISTMAS SEASON TRADITIONS

HISTORY OF CHRISTMAS

Four thousand years before Christ in Mesopotamia, people were already celebrating festivals around the winter solstice (approximately December 21).  As they witnessed the light of the sun growing weaker and the amount of sun light growing shorter each day, they had celebrations to help the sun fight back and indeed to rejoice when the sun started to win the battle.  The sun always fought back and this was celebrated by a festival season.  These festivals included parades, gift giving, and feasting. 

The Christian church did not approve of their members joining these pagan pursuits, so to give Christians something to celebrate, they replaced the birth of the "sun" with the birth of the "Son" of God.  By 98 AD, the church celebrated the Nativity of the Lord on December 25th although there was no evidence in Scripture for this date.  Christmas was not declared a federal holiday until June 26, 1870.

YULE LOG

The yule log originated in Norway.  The Norse believed the sun was a "burning wheel" that rolled closer to earth then rolled away.  Their word for wheel sounds like "yule".  The yule log which was burned for up to 12 days, celebrated the return of the wheel (sun).  This is why the hearth is often in pictures of Christmas.

EGG NOG

Captain John Smith said the first egg nog was drunk at Jamestown.  Nog comes from the word "grog" which was any drink made with rum. 

 CHRISTMAS TREES

Germans had always decorated evergreen trees for the winter solstice.  A symbol that, just as these trees stayed green and didn't die, so would life return as the sun came back from the shortest day of the year.  The first "Christmas Trees" appeared in Strasbourg in the 17th century.  After 1750 more trees appeared in Germany.  Martin Luther is credited with adding candles to Christmas trees after seeing stars twinkling through the tree branches one night as he was out for a walk.  Now the tree has two Christian symbols connected with them: eternal life (evergreen) and the light of Christ (candles).

POINSETTIAS

In 1828, Dr. Joel R. Poinsett brought a red and green plant from Mexico to America.  Because of its coloring, it was just right for the new holiday of Christmas.  By 1900, Poinsettias were a universal symbol of Christmas.

CAROLING

Caroling begun in England.  Carolers would go from town to town visiting the homes of the wealthy and castles seeking a gift of money or food.

STOCKINGS 

In Scandinavia and the Netherlands, children would leave their shoes (made of wood) in front of the fire place to dry.  In the holiday season, they hoped they would be filled with candies by St. Nick.  The legend is that St. Nick threw a bag of gold, intended to be a dowry for a poor girl so she could be married, and it went down the chimney and landed in her shoe drying by the hearth.  In England and the US, the shoes were replaced by stockings.

MISTLETOE

Mistletoe was believed to have magic power to heal wounds and increase fertility by the Celts and Teutonic peoples.  They hung mistletoe in their homes for good luck and to drive off evil spirits.

NOEL

Noel is a word that is famous from the song "The First Noel".  This French phrase comes from an expression that meant the "Good News" or the Gospel.

CHRISTMAS CARD

John Calcott Horsley, an Englishman, started sending Christmas cards in 1830.  R.H. Pease began the same tradition about the same time in America.  Newly efficient post offices in England and the US made the idea work.

CRIB SET or CRÈCHE

The Crib Set or Crèche was first invented by St. Francis of Assisi in 1224.  He used a live Crib Set to help teach the illiterate people the Nativity Story.

SANTA CLAUS

St. Nicholas was a 4th century Bishop of Myra, a poor diocese in Asia Minor, now part of Turkey.  He is remembered for giving gold (thrown through the window, not down the chimney, secretly at night, on three different occasions) as dowries for three girls so they could get married. His name came from the Dutch ... Sant Niklas, which became Santa Claus.  So there really is a Santa Claus who lived long ago and the one we have now is a symbol of that man's goodness and generosity which was but a reflection of God's generosity to him.  So, Santa is really a personification of God's love and generosity.  Santa still wears the red robes of a Bishop.

The Legend of St. Nick was added to by a poem written in 1822 by Clement Clarke Moore, a minister, entitled "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas".  This poem is know to us as "The Night Before Christmas".  Much of our belief about Santa comes from this poem.  He is depicted as roly-poly, having a sleigh and eight tiny reindeer (which he even goes on to name, going up and down chimneys and leaving gifts for children.  All of this was invented by Clement Moore.

Christmas Break

May each of you and your families

have a blessed and holy Christmas

and much joy into the New Year!

The Christmas Break begins at noon on Wednesday,  December 19 and school resumes on Wednesday, January 2, 2008.  No one will be in the school office until we return in January. Have a wonderful Christmas break!