Two parish families, the Daues and the Harts, shared their Christmas traditions for the Christmas issue of Savio Scene.

Karen and Jim Daues moved into our parish in 1994 when their first child Emma was a newborn. Their family has grown to three daughters and a son. Jim is our parish webmaster and Karen, well, let’s just say she is "very involved" at SDS.

Jo and Gene Hart moved back to the parish last August. Jo, daughter of Lois and the late Don Missel, graduated from St. Dominic Savio School in 1983. She and her husband Gene have two daughters. — Editor

Christmas with the Daues Family

"I really like the idea of having a reminder of our preparation for Christmas all through the Advent season," Karen said. "We have our Advent wreath, of course, along with the special prayers we pray at dinner each night. But another way to build excitement for our celebration for baby Jesus is a practice I’ve continued from my childhood in Kansas City.

"When I was younger, the Nativity scene that always was placed under our Christmas tree was one made of plastic. The manger was a separate piece and baby Jesus fit down into it. Although the scene was all set up with Mary, Joseph, a cow, a donkey and a manger, baby Jesus had a different position during Advent.

"My mother would pick a spot at the other end of the house to place little plastic baby Jesus and each day He would be moved a little closer to the living room and his waiting manger and family. All through Advent we would literally be mindful of Baby Jesus and remember the preparations we were to be making to be ready for Christmas.

"I still laugh sometimes to remember the time we had to search the vacuum cleaner bag to find Jesus after my Mom accidentally vacuumed Him off of a door frame. For the most part, however, His journey toward the manger was a lovely reminder of His presence and importance in our lives.

"Now with my own family, we continue the tradition started by my Mom. We, too, have a small plastic baby Jesus that starts at the opposite end of the house and moves toward His family each day of Advent. With a well - chosen path, He is able to journey through each of the bedrooms and the kids all have a period of time where He is looking over them as they sleep.

"On Christmas morning, we start our celebration with a procession of baby Jesus to His manger. We draw a name to see which child will carry baby Jesus and the others carry candles or other small decorations for the Nativity scene. While singing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus, we process to the place where Joseph, Mary, the shepherd and various animals wait around the small manger for the greatest gift ever given. After we place Him in the manger, we take a moment to appreciate the scene and say a prayer of thanks. It is only after we do this that we begin opening our presents.

"In our family, it always seems to start the celebration right when we start by honoring the true reason for the season. After that, the day always seems like ‘the best Christmas ever,’ because we know that we’ve already received all we could ever need from our awesome Father who loves us!"

Christmas with the Hart Family

"As a girl, we always baked lots of Christmas cookies every year," Jo said. "As an adult, I have started that tradition with my own family this year. I didn’t make as many as my mother did, but it was good to have some of the old favorites!"

Gene’s favorite tradition is to build a Christmas house with the girls. We go to the hobby shop and pick out some materials, Popsicle sticks and little trees for example, and they sit down and glue and paint together, constructing their Christmas house. This year they are constructing a scene on a platform, to include a few little trees, deer and sleigh along with the house. We even found some miniature Christmas "lights" (they don’t actually light up) that will look great on the eave s of the little house.

"Another tradition we’ve enjoyed as a family is something I call the activity chain. I make a paper chain of twelve links (red and green) , then one gold link which is for Christmas Day. Each link has the date written on it (starting with the 13th) on the outside. Inside the link is written an activity, ranging from "go shopping," "bake cookies," "go to the movies," "family game night," "wrap presents" or "jump on the futon." (Futon mattress is put flat on the floor first!)

"Yes, I admit there have been times I’ve needed to replace a link when I find the evening’s schedule will not work out with the chosen activity … but our daughters get excited to find out what is in store each day!"

Jaclyn Wagner is the niece of parishioners Shelly and Greg Rousseau. Jaclyn is the daughter of Shelly’s older sister. Shelly recalls that Jaclyn started talking about joining the armed forces sometime around 2002. Jaclyn started training to join the Army.

Shelly wasn’t quite convinced that her niece would go through with it. Shelly recalls, "Jaclyn was trying to pick a direction in life. She had talked about a few things but had yet to really follow through with one."

Jacyln did follow through though and joined the Army in 2004. Shelly and Greg say that they have seen a change in Jaclyn since that time. Shelly says, "She just seems a lot more focused. She seems to know what she wants to do, where she wants to go and works harder to get there." Jaclyn is stationed on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Asked if she had any strong Christmas memories of Jaclyn, Shelly recalled a family meal: "My mom and Dad had taken us all out for dinner during the Christmas season. Jaclyn was just sitting at the table when suddenly she started to slide off chair. She tried to stop herself by grabbing hold of the table cloth. Down she went taking the tablecloth with her. Everything on the table seemed to go flying. When we saw she was OK, we couldn’t help but laugh."

Jaclyn is due home on leave in March. The Rousseau’s Christmas wish is that the parish will join them in praying that Jaclyn is kept safe as she serves our country in the Army.

* * * Parishioner Laura Montgomery's cousin is Casey Doellman. Casey serves in the Marines as a mechanic. He has been stationed in Iraq since August.

Laura said it was she was not surprised to learn that Casey had enlisted. There is a tradition of service in his family. Casey's father served in the armed forces. Casey's brother, like Casey himself, is a member of our armed fo rces. She does recall that the news did make her a little uneasy. "He seemed so young," she said. "He enrolled right out of high school and with everything going on in the Middle East ..."

Laura's family used to have big get-togethers at grandma's house for Christmas every year. She didn't want to pick a favorite Christmas memory of Casey. "He is such a good kid and he always has that smile on his face that I love to see," she said.

Laura's wish for Casey that we all keep him in our prayers so that he is kept safe from harm where he is stationed in Iraq. She also wished that people would keep his wife and two children, who have had to stay behind here at home, in your prayers as well. Laura also wanted to thank the Cub Scouts as well. The Scouts will be sending care packages to our men and women in the services overseas to help bring some Christmas cheer into their lives.

* * * Parishioner Patricia Mahoney has a grandson, Thomas Mahoney who is currently working on his second career in the armed forces. Patricia's family also has a history of service rendered in the armed forces. She recalled several family members who had also served in the armed forces over time. So it was not a surprise to her when young Thomas made up his mind at seventeen to join the Army.

The family managed to convince him to wait until he was 18 before he signed up. They wanted him to be sure that the Army was what he wanted to do with his life. It clearly was as he enlisted almost immediately after his eighteenth birthday.

Thomas has had an interesting career path since joining the Army. His first tour lasted eight years. He signed up as an infantryman and eventually became a combat medic. He even spent a year as a lighting technician for the Army Soldier Show (I guess you could say he was a pretty bright guy. . .), a morale boosting entertainment tour for the armed services. The Army Soldier Show took him around the world to wherever our soldiers were deployed.

After eight years, Thomas left the Army. He quickly found that he missed his life in the service. So Thomas joined the National Guard. He is now a senior medic attached to an MP unit and is on his second tour of duty in Iraq.

For Patricia, Christmas was and still is a time of small quiet family gatherings. She asked that we remember her grandson in our thoughts and prayers. She asked also if the parish could also keep her grandson Michael Wissehr in its prayers as he is preparing to enter the Navy, yet another of several family members who had answered the call to serve our country as a member of the armed forces.

Excitement filled Feuerbacher Hall on Saturday morning, Dec. 1, for breakfast with St. Nick! Organized by Joann Mattler and sponsored by the Women of St. Vincent de Paul Society, it was a grand way to kick of the Christmas season. More than 75 parents joined their children for the festivities, which included colorful clowns, ornament decorating, face painting, singing and much more. And, of course, St. Nick was on hand to tell his story and how he eventually reached sainthood as a wonderful way to awaken the spirit of Christmas.

Global warming may be a big concern somewhere in our future, but many area families have a more immediate and pressing concern : just "keeping warm." It feels so good on cold wintry nights to crawl into a chilly bed and be quickly warmed by comfy blankets. It’s a different story if that chilly bed has no insulating blankets to do their magic.

How good it is that loving and sharing people come forward. Could it be the spirit of Christmas at work? Definitely, the giving spirit of the many good people here at SDS helps. Each fall. the annual Linus Blanket Collection is held at St. Dominic Savio. The program’s goal is to help alleviate the problem of the less-fortunate families in our area that are in need of blankets.

The Linus program is one of many run by the St. Vincent de Paul Society, an arm of our parish Christian Service Commission. The Linus program goes back a few years. It was initiated by then associate, Fr. Tom Bryon, and pastoral associate, Sr. Carol Ann Callahan, around 1980. Today, St. Vincent de Paul Society member Henry Ricciotti has spearheaded the program for well over a decade.

The Linus Blanket Collection is held each year around the second week of November. This scheduling allows time for people to respond and donate new or lightly used blankets and also paper products. Blankets are then stored on-site for sorting and, if necessary, cleaning or repair, in time for distribution to church pantries before the arrival of winter cold. Eight or so church pantries around the St. Louis area participate and receive blankets from this collection.

While Henry oversees the program, many others pitch in to help out. It’s a team effort, says Henry. This was a good year : Approximately 100 blankets we recollected. This means that a fair number of blankets will be available for distribution to each adopted pantry without having to spend precious St. Vincent de Paul funds for the purchase of additional blankets.

This winter when the weather turns bitter cold, count your blessings that you have a home, food on the table, heat from the furnace and a nice warm blanket to warm you at nightfall. If you were one of the many who donated to the Linus Blanket Collection, feel good about it.

Thanks to your small gift, someone less fortunate will be a little warmer at night. They may be giving prayerful thanks to the anonymous giver who gave the gift of warmth, the blanket that is warming them this winter.

We always enjoy finding something special or unusual to include in Savio Scene for the Christmas issue. We believe that we have found just what we wanted. Hope you enjoy this report.

The story concerns the friendship of two of our parishioners, Ed Schallom and Jack Buck. We visited first with Ed and his wife, Lee. The Schalloms have lived in St. Dominic Savio Parish for 17 years. An integral part of their lives is daily attendance at the early morning weekday Mass (now 6:30 a.m.).

It was at this Mass that they first met Jack and Carol Buck, who also are regular attendees. After Mass, many of the "regulars" stand in the back of church or outside to visit. It is a small community within our parish! For those of us who are not morning people, it is amazing to see their devotion and their ability to socialize at such an early hour.

Ed has quite a sense of humor, and one morning after Mass, he walked past Jack and noted that "we're passing the Buck." That was the beginning of "Buckmania!" I would like to say that this has been Ed's idea and enjoyment, but it should be noted that he and Lee have been married for 34 years, and they do make a good team. For about 10 years, he has scanned catalogs, stores or wherever he could find something related to "buck," as in deer. After he has located an appropriate item, it is procured with Jack in mind.

Ed also enjoys writing poetry, so sometimes there may be an appropriate verse to go with the "buck" item. It can be noted that some of the items have been musical, some could hang on a wall and some could sit on a mantle or furniture. The common denominator is that all have to either be a buck or have a buck on them. The presentation takes place after the 6:30 Mass and is enjoyed by all who have the time to stop and visit. It is sort of like Christmas year-round when Ed finds something appropriate or the spirit moves him.

Our next visit was with Jack and Carol, who have been parishioners for about 13 of their 45 years of marriage. Jack explained that the name of "Buck" is of German heritage. Jack's grandpa came from Germany in 1872. The original spelling of the name was "Bock."

He and Carol are amazed at all the different items Ed has found. Viewing the "Buck" memorabilia is quite a treat, as the photos here suggest.

The friendship and good times that have become a part of the early morning Mass happens often in this loving parish community. That is why this makes such a special Christmas story. Merry Christmas!