In the run-up to Christmas we invited pupils from Primary 6 at Houston Primary School to come along to the West Halls and ‘unwrap’ Christmas through a series of fun activities and crafts, supported by volunteers from our church community.

Caroline Morrison compered a ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ quiz all about Christmas facts and the winning team won prizes!

The pupils also got to meet our Nutty Professor – Trainee Minister Thorsten Koenig – who shared lots of fascinating information about the symbols of Christmas, and where they originated from, by getting volunteers to open boxes of ‘presents’.

The children played some silly Christmas games in their groups and listened to the Christmas Story, then three of them acted out a play about the Jewish people waiting for a Saviour (would it be a great warrior or a superhero?), before the Nutty Professor got a volunteer to open the last ‘present’ box to reveal a baby.

Our Minister, Revd. Gary Noonan, talked to the pupils about how Jesus changed people’s lives and told them the story of Peter to illustrate that.

The children finished up by making beautiful Christmas mosaics and wreaths with a little bit of help from the grown-ups, before walking back to school in time for lunch. It was great to welcome them and have some intergenerational fun!

A big thank you to all the volunteer helpers who set up the Halls each morning and cleared things away afterwards, to Gary and to our Nutty Professor.

We hope to see the children again next year.