We Celebrated with Children the Season of Love and Kindness /St. Nicholas in San Diego

If you walked to the cozy Christmassy Point Loma Assembly on Saturday afternoon, I think you would like to join! Great scent o mulled wine added ambience to the colorful smiling singing posh crowd counting over one hundred, and the laughs of children never fail to bring the charm in. It was a splendid afternoon and it was charming because we have some very special parents in our community. Their children know the old traditions, they speak the language of their parents' land, and they are so well behaving! It was amazing how so many little ones sat politely through the performances, singinging along if prompted, never demanding a thing and never misbehaving! Finally, I was taken aback how MUSICAL the children are. We made music together and it sounded wonderful and set magic in the room that was filled quickly with the sweetest feelings! The parents of these special children, as I observed, are kind to them and loving, but uncompromising and that is a key to a happy end!

In this beautiful season, we celebrate love, kindness, forgiveness, honesty and goodwill, the things

that matter the most. And last night, the Czech and Slovak Community in San Diego did justice to that celebration with a beautiful fun Christmassy spirit. Just imagine, we had about 40 children and each performed individually for St. Nicholas! Believe or not, we had eight little pianists, one ukulele player, one dancer, one actor and the rest sang a song! It is the old tradition that before St. Nicholas rewards you with a package of sweets and fruits, you have to pay him respect with a poem, a song or a musical piece.

At our party we first caroled, children were helping to keep the rhythm with the Orff's instruments, we performed stories of Christmas, a fairy tale about two fishermen, a dramatized poem about a lost moon, and finally we met "Mikuláš" aka St. Nicholas who brought what looked like hundreds of packages for the well behaving children!! And you may know that centuries ago, St. Nicholas gave birth in America to the tradition of Santa Claus. St. Nicholas is called Sinterklaas in Duch and the Dutch people brought his tradition here in 1600's. And so the Dutch, Czech, Slovak and many other European kids have the luck to get presents at two days during this beautiful season: December 5, St. Nick who checks on children behaviour, and then December 24 when a Baby Jesus brings them presents

under the tree.

It is beautiful to keep the legends and traditions alive for our American born children while appreciating to live in this beautiful colorful-with-various-traditions country. And what makes me happy that we had about ten American guests who came just to see what our tradition is about.

I will conclude with a personal note! Exactly sixteen years ago in 2002, the 8th of December fell also on Saturday as it did this year in 2018. Then and also this year it was a day of our annual St. Nicholas party! Just like last night, I was there only much younger, even more beautiful (!) and expecting a baby any minute! I crouched behind the iron board playing a puppet show about an ungrateful princess, we caroled, we danced children dances, we told stories, and we met St. Nicholas.

After that beautiful party in 2002 I went home, put every prop away, sat down to rest and before I knew it I was on my way to have a baby! And it was a girl called Adelka. And just like a blink of an eye, she is with me at the helm of preparing for children this party! She wishes her smaller friends will have memories from these events just like she has. She also met at these happenings some of her closest friends. And so it was for our family a happy celebration of Adelka's "sweet sixteen" where we banded together our family with other friends in hopes to lit some nice sparkles of joy in the eyes of the beautiful children.

Thank you all for coming, thank you for giving the children in our community so many beautiful gifts as being bilingual, being musical, being interested in the world, and being sweetly behaving!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; may you find lots of love, peace and goodwill!

Thank you:

Parents and children of the Czech School "Škola volááá" aka Sluníčko, Pavel Chvístek and Vladislav Hanč from the Poe Street Band, Martin, Tomáš, Adélka the important trio, Jana Connor, Lukáš Hanč, Eva Fischerová, Zuzana Patton, Petra Lehečková, Point Loma Assembly and their angels who are always so helpful to me! Without all of you, I am lost! Thank you!