Grandparent's Day

Today was our second annual Grandparent's Day.  The day consisted of Mass for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, informal tours of the school by the grandchildren, and a luncheon in our gym.   Almost 250 grandparents and students took part.  Our good friend Father Richard Dion of Saint Anthony Parish celebrated Mass for the entire school community but the grandparents sat in special seats with their grandchildren.  Father Richard preached a masterful homily tying together the Ascension and how we hand on the faith to others, especially grandparents to their grandchildren.  He somehow started talking about singing at Mass and how this is a way to pass on the faith and show examples to others.  To prove his point, he had all the grandfathers stand up and he asked them to sing "Silent Night" to their grandchildren.  He then had the grandmothers sing "Immaculate Mary" and the boys and girls (separately) sing "Silent Night."  The students broke into loud, wild applause after the grandparents (especially the grandfathers) sang, it was quite a moment.

Following Mass Father Richard had all the grandparents stand and then began asking them to sit after he listed off their age.  Once he got into the 80's there were two left standing.  He kept on listing ages but they were still standing!  So he joked, "Would anyone over 110 please sit."  Eventually one of them sat at 85 or 86 and the last one standing was a grandmother who is 92!  While the servers and Father Richard were processing out, he went over to the 92 year old and chatted with her.  He then took her by the hand, went back to the front and told the choir to stop singing.  He said, "This woman is 92 years old and she just told me that she roller-skates once a week!"  The place went nuts.

After all this we had the students take their grandparents around the school to look around and to meet teachers.  While they were out we turned over the gym to serve lunch adding tables and food.  An army of amazing parents and students helped this go very quickly and efficiently.  The grandparents were back by 11:30am and enjoyed a nice lunch with their grandchildren.  Note to self, however, grandparents LOVE coffee and cake so order much more of these next year!

It was a wonderful, wonderful day and seemed bigger than last year.  Thanks to all the grandparents who were with us and to the many volunteers who helped with all the work.  See you next year!