Christmas at the Monastery

Christmas at the monastery was fun, festive, and very busy. Our celebrations lasted for days and we had many special events and visitors.

We always enjoy decorating our monastery to get ourselves in the festive mood, and keep the decorations up as long as possible.

Our sacristan, Sr. Carmen Gloria, is particularly creative with the decorations in the chapel. The creche gets special attention to call everyone over to adore the baby Jesus.

Every year, the magi start at one corner of the chapel, but eventually make their way over to the Holy Family in time for Epiphany.

Christmas wreaths make the chapel particularly festive.

Right before Christmas, we had a visit from jolly old St. Nicholas and one of his elves (the Healys, good friends of the monastery), who brought along some friends

Dr. Price and Dr. Fidone with Bella

They brought along their new puppy Bella, a beautiful chocolate Newfoundland dog, who was given special permission to come over to the nuns’ side of the parlor and quickly made friends with everyone.

Bella takes a nap.

On Christmas Eve, we had our usual midnight mass, then sang Christmas carols on our way to the refectory for our traditional midnight breakfast.

The refectory looked so beautiful with all of the foliage and Christmas lights. The novitiate did a wonderful job decorating!

Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Christine, and Sr. Marie Augustine with the beautiful refectory Christmas creche.

On Christmas day, we spent all afternoon opening presents from our generous benefactors. There were group gifts to the whole community, and we also each got many gift bags full of treats for ourselves.

On New Year’s morning, we had our usual Big Chapter, in which we each get a card with a saint patron and a special cause to pray for during the upcoming year.

Then we give each other the kiss of peace to welcome in another year at the monastery.

In the evening, we go around the monastery Christmas caroling, which gives us a chance to see all of the Christmas decorations in the various departments throughout the monastery.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Mary Christine with their beautifully decorated novitiate Christmas tree

Christmas caroling in the outside lobby

We love going outside and seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights our workmen have put up for Christmas.

We made sure to go over and sing to our patron, the Infant Jesus!

On Epiphany, we have our big Christmas feast day, where we play games and recreate together all day.

This year, the novitiate was in charge of the evening’s activities, and divided us up into three teams and had us play star-related games.

In the end, everyone was a winner and we all got gift bags, including some special “star bread” baked by the novitiate.

Christmas is a special time for us, when we reflect on the closing year and look forward to the next. It’s a time not just for our community to come together, but also for us to visit with our special friends and benefactors who are so generous and make our lives here possible. Thanks be to the Infant Jesus!