Advent and Christmas Celebrations 2017

Advent and Christmas were celebrated this year as usual in accordance with Schneller traditions. The season began with the making of advent wreaths and decorations in the church and every boarding home.
The celebration of St. Nicholas Day followed on 7 December 2017 with the usual Schneller gift after chapel of peanuts and tangerines.
Mr. Wissam Saadeh with the boys of Family 5 who previously made the advent wreath for church, did an excellent job decorating the Christmas tree there too.
Finally, the Christmas celebrations were held on 21 and 22 December.
The program of the boarding department began with the Christmas service in St. Michael's Church on Thursday 21 at 6:00 PM followed by the traditional Christmas dinner, and finally the distribution of presents to all students.
Miss Rasha Shdied with the two Santa Claus volunteers from the vocational boarding homes did an excellent job distributing the presents to students.
We thank Miss Shdied, Mr. Saadeh, Chef Salah and his kitchen team, and all the educators who worked hard to make our celebrations very joyful.
Six alumni of the graduating class of 1989 had a very nice surprise for JLSS that evening. Fouad Ramadan, Khaled al-Hayek, Ali al-Sahili, Rahhal Rahhal, Trad Zreik, and Hussein Haidar got together and bought a nice LED television for one of the boarding homes which they delivered that evening. It was a most wonderful gift not for its value which we also appreciate, but for the most wonderful spirit of Schneller alumni who thought of their memories at JLSS and decided to make our children happy through their wonderful contribution. This speaks millions! To all six we say THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEART! Such are the gradates that make us enormously proud!
The television was placed in GBH1 (Girls Boarding Home 1) which had an old broken television!
The next day on Friday 22 the Junior school held its Christmas program at 10:00 AM. We were worried this year because we didn't have the music teacher who usually takes care of the Christmas program. We asked all teachers to contribute to the program as much as they could.
To our surprise the program was the best we had so far. The contribution of all the teachers enriched the program enormously. The children did extremely well revealing the great potential of their teachers.
The lesson was very obvious! Even when we have a music teacher sharing the responsibility will definitely enrich the program! This is how it will always be in the future.
We sincerely thank all our teachers for their hard work and the wonderful program we had. We also congratulate the children on their excellent performance and the wonderful time we all had together. 
We thank the Lutheran Board for Mission Support - USA (LBMS) for sending us the main grant for the Christmas presents of students this year. We also thank Embrace the Middle East - UK for their contribution for the presents.
We thank all the teachers, educators, and members of staff, who participated in the festivities one way or another. We especially thank teachers, trainers, members of staff, and members of the alumni association in Lebanon who came with their families to JLSS that evening to celebrate Christmas with our boarding students.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.