Christmas comes but twice a year at this Ridge school!
St. Anselm Catholic Academy treated revelers to two days of holiday cheer at the school’s annual Winter Wonderland celebration on Dec. 12 and 13. A two-story tree, a living nativity scene, a holiday market, and Santa himself greeted revelers during the double-dose solstice shindig at the Fourth Avenue school.
Local vendors and artisans sold goods such as stockings, hats, and jewelry upstairs in the shadow of the school’s 25-foot Christmas tree, which volunteers decorated to a T. There was also a bounce house, games, and arts-and-crafts activities for kids to enjoy while parents checked out what merry merchants had to offer.
The school ran the Winter Wonderland in 1970s and 1980s but stopped two decades ago, according to Eileen Johnson, a Saint Anselm alumna who helped organize the event. She fellow alumni brought the celebration back in 2010, and she gets a whole lot of holiday cheer every time the revived tradition comes to fruition, she said.
“A lot of students, teachers, and parents worked really hard to put it together, so it was great to see it come together,” said Johnson, who has one child at the school and two who already graduated.
Boy Scouts with Troop 13 cooked and served up hot dogs, knishes, chicken tenders in the school cafeteria — proceeds went to the troop, which is hoping to pick up some much-needed new camping equipment.
Students performed a live nativity, and people waiting to see Santa were entertained by the in-the-flesh telling of god’s incarnation, one reveler said.
“The nativity play was adorable,” said Bay Ridgite Samantha Pomarico, who brought her nephew Derek McCreay. “The little kids were really great.”
