How do you Jew Christmas?

For the 18^th year in a row, Congregation Shalom members and friends joined together to create a Christmas meal for residents at one of the senior housing complexes in Chelmsford. The residents were offered to join together for a sit-down Christmas meal, with good food, music, companionship and celebration, or for the hot meal to be delivered to their apartment.  This year the Christmas Day crew worked in two different locations to reheat and cook a Christmas meal, complete with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, bread and butter, apple cider, coffee and a wonderful assortment of desserts.           

Each location worked to reheat, cook, plate/create to-go boxes. A group of volunteers headed out to deliver the meals with great cheer and merriment while the rest of the crew worked to serve a plated meal and offer companionship and joy. Each resident was given an individual homemade holiday card created by a group of children and a festive candy cane message from Congregation Shalom. There was laughter and conversation and lots of eating of the delicious food.

This meal would not be possible without the efforts of our Congregation Shalom community.  This year over 50 people from Congregation Shalom worked to contribute to making this event happen!  Our members were so generous in donating food, drink, money, and their time.  It was a true showing of Congregation Shalom k’hillah (community).

Back in November, I received a card in the mail addressed to me at the temple. It was from one of the residents from the senior housing complex asking me to call her to talk about the Christmas Meal. (At this point in the year, I was not sure that I was going to coordinate the Christmas meal this year.) I called her and she asked me if our temple was planning on offering the meal this year. She told me that she really looks forward to it each year and that joining with other residents is how she celebrates Christmas. At that moment, I knew that we would be hosting the meal again this year! (A quick creation of a sign-up genius form and we were off and running!)

On Christmas Day, while the volunteer crew was setting up and preparing the food, another resident came into one of the rooms where the meal would be served. She has been attending the Christmas Meal for years but in the past few years she has been joining her son and his wife. She came in to say “Hello” and to thank Congregation Shalom for all their hard work in offering the Christmas meal. She shared how her son was going to pick her up in a little while but she just wanted to stop by and visit for a short time. As other residents joined us for the meal and were already sitting down and starting to eat, this woman came back into the room and announced that in fact she would be joining us this year. Unfortunately, at the last minute, her son was not able to have her over and she ended up with nowhere to go for Christmas. We immediately got her a seat, a nametag, a festive candy cane and a hot plate of food. Though she was disappointed that her plans had changed, she was later seen talking and laughing and enjoying her time with the other residents and our temple crew.

These are just two of many stories I could share about the impact that the Christmas meal has on this senior community. The temple Christmas meal is many of the residents Christmas celebration. They do not have another place to go and they really look forward to it every year.  Everyone who we see on Christmas is so appreciative of all the delicious food and the opportunity to be with others on this holiday. Without the teamwork of so many of our temple members, this Christmas meal would not be possible. I share heartfelt thanks to Congregation Shalom for helping us to provide a joyous celebration during the holiday season and to bring our Congregation Shalom light into our community.

With gratitude,

Deborah