Happy New Year everyone! It seems a little crazy to think we are in 2022. I can remember when I was in high school and college, it seemed like 2022 was some crazy sci-fi year and we’d all be flying around like the Jetsons. Well, not yet.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year celebration. As always, the Christmas season did not disappoint us here at Open Arms. We stayed very busy with many fun crafts, talking about the birth of Jesus and preparing for the program—which was in-person this year! The parents were so excited to be able to come to the church to see the program rather than watch it by stream like last year. However, now that we have streaming available to us, we were able to also share the program to family and friends far away to enjoy as well. Thank you to Tom for that!

The kids did a great job with the program and were adorable and funny, of course. We had a great turnout that filled the sanctuary, which always warms my heart. Thank you to June Donaldson for leading a Thrivent Action Team to update costumes and props for the Nativity portion of the program. She also got to help us with building the stable on stage before the program. Thank you, June! We appreciate the help of our families so much too as it saves us so much time and just makes it more fun overall.

The last day before Christmas break was our Polar Express Party. As usual, it was a blast for not only the kids, but the staff and parents. We had several moms who stayed to help with the party, which we love. Everyone arrived in their pajamas to start the day. After our busy night with the program, this was a welcome opportunity to be so comfortable at school. We started out the morning by making a fun craft provided by parents. Then, as he does every year, the Gingerbread man got out of the classroom, so we had to go all over the church to find him. This year he made his way to my car and managed to get himself stuck in my window. We decided he was trying to go to my house since he knew I had baked a lot of cookies and he thought he could sneak a ride to my house to eat them. After we solved that problem, it was time to have snacks and watch a Christmas Movie. The choice was “The Star” this year. If you haven’t seen it, put it on your list next year. The kiddos got comfortable in their train cars they decorated, got their golden ticket and waited for the conductors to come punch it for admission onto the Polar Express train. Once that was done, we served them popcorn and hot cocoa while they enjoyed the movie. Halfway through the movie, we had an intermission where the kids decorated a Christmas cookie to eat while finishing the movie. Once we finished with everything, everyone packed up their train car full of goodies and gifts from the teachers, said their goodbyes and headed home for the break.

Now here we are in January, already looking ahead to the fall enrollment process. Boy did that go fast! We have started registration for current families and church members, and open registration to the public January 29. If you know of anyone looking for preschool, please send them our way! I am already getting calls and emails, so people are starting to think about it already. Feel free to call or email me if you have any questions! I’m happy to answer them.

January is all about snowmen, hibernation, migration, penguins, the five senses, and children around the world, to mention a few. Even though January can be a dreary month following the hubbub of Christmas fun, we manage to keep it fun with winter activities and learning.

Open Arms is full of new babies coming this year. We have six expecting moms, two of whom just had their babies. One arrived the day after Christmas, and the other one arrived on January 8. Both boys, healthy and doing well. Now we must wait for the other four to join us. Maybe they will all be at preschool at the same time in three years!

I hope and pray the best for you all in this new year and hope it’s one of the best yet! I will be back next month with some more fun stuff to tell you about!

Kandy Wise is the Director of Open Arms Preschool, a ministry of Saint John’s Lutheran Church. You may reach her at 482-1357 or OpenArms@StJohnsFC.org with any questions about the Preschool.