There are many wonderful things about Christmas. There are the Christmas trees; there are Christmas lights, wonderful carols, gifts, etc. However, what is most important about Christmas is Jesus; the greatest gift of all. If you received a gift it would be sad if you only enjoyed the paper, the bow and the ribbon and forgot the present inside. At Christmas it would be even worse if you enjoyed the hymns, the lights and the songs and forgot about Jesus! This Christmas let’s remember that Jesus is the greatest gift of all. He was born in a manger many years ago and he is alive today. Although we can’t see him right now we know he is the greatest King of all and that he loves us and leads us into the wonderful life of God. We don’t want to forget that. Help us to enjoy the season of Christmas but also to remember Jesus at this very special time.

 The Story of Christmas (Room 5) Read by Leon

Reader: A reading from the Gospel of Luke:(Read by Room 9)

God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. He had a message for a young woman promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. Her name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!”

Mary was deeply troubled by the angel’s message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and his kingdom will never end.”

Mary said to the angel, “I am not yet married, how can this be?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come over you, and God’s power will rest upon you. For this reason, the holy child will be called the Son of God.”  “I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary; “may it be done to me as you have said.” And the angel left her. The word of the Lord.

 

Prayers of the faithful. (Room 9)                                       

                                                                                                                        

Let us pray for peace in the world. That all Christians and people of good will might become peace-makers in their actions and words, so that everyone living where there is war and fighting will know the peace of Christ’s coming. We pray to the Lord                                                                                                                                                                 

Let us pray for the Church. That in this time of waiting, all Christians  will grow in faith, love and unity.  Let us pray for the people in our community who are sick and lonely. That they might find hope and comfort as we reach out to them this Advent and Christmas. We pray to the Lord.                                                                                                                                                          

 

Let us pray for our teachers. May the newborn Jesus strengthen them with wisdom to guide us in using our gifts and talents to serve Christ in one another. We pray to the Lord                            

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Awards/ Prizes

Christmas Concert– I want to congratulate all the children and teachers on your performances last week What a great shows they were. I can’t believe how good everyone was .Myself and Mrs Collier are really proud of all of you. Give yourselves a big round of applause.

St Vincent De Paul– Thank you to all the children who helped donate food for St. Vincent De Paul. Every little bit helps. It’s good to help people less fortunate than ourselves

Christmas Jumper Day– I can’t wait to see you all tomorrow in your Christmas jumpers. Rumour has a very special visitor from the North Pole might be calling to St Declan’s.

Christmas Eve Mass – The mass on RTE on Christmas Eve will be from Ashbourne church. We had a TV crew in our school on the 6th of December to record Ms Jenkinson’s 4th class and Ms O’Halloran’s 2nd class and they are going to be part of the programme. So well done to all involved and we look forwrd to watching it.

Student of the Month Trophy

Room 9 Jake

Room 19 Oskar

Room 7 Ellie

Room 20 Jack

Room 21 Arnas

Room 5 Emma

Gaelgeoir Na Miosa

Room 9 Chloe

Room 19 Conor

Room 7 Ryan

Room 5 Leon

Room 20 Toke

Room 21 Erik

Best Line Award- Room 9

Best Dressed Class- Room 19

Behaviour on the yard award- Room 7

Attendance Award for 3^rd  Room 7

Attendance Award for 4^th  Room 21

 

Mr Kearins

I wish everyone a Happy and peaceful Christmas. We are back to school on Monday the 7^th of January. I hope Santa comes. I hear you are all on the nice list, even the teachers.

Performance

All the children from 5th class sang some Christmas songs to finish off assembly.

Even Decky and Eddie behaved themselves while the choir were performing.