Christmas Pancake Breakfast (Posted In February)

The following occurred 12/18/20
Christmas Pancake Breakfast
Imagine you’re chilling out, enjoying the Christmas season, and on comes your radio with the sound of “Joyful, Joyful” gently flowing into your ears. Ah, joy. Who doesn’t love joy? But I’m curious about something. When you say “joy” in Christmastime, what do you think of? The lights? The birth? The presents? Or, rather, do you think of cramming an ENTIRE PANCAKE BREAKFAST into your mouth in under three minutes? Because that’s me, right there! You see, I came into the gym all nice and humble-like, when out of the blue my personal arch-nemesis arrived. The man challenged me to a speed eating competition, and with a plate full of pancakes, potatoes, fruit, and various other items, I gladly accepted. And with all the upperclassman boys cheering us on, I won by a MILE. My enemy was humbled, and I was rewarded with indigestion for the next three hours. But it wasn’t over! You see, the breakfast was only the first event. Following the wonderful breakfast was an equally wonderful show of Christmas spirit by most of the Academy! Our sophomores were on TV, our freshmen were breaking into elderly peoples’ homes, and those awesome, beautiful, unbeatable juniors were acting out the Twelve Days of Christmas. (Yours truly gladly performed Nine Ladies Dancing, much to the JOY of the audience.) When all was said and done, we retreated to our classrooms. On top of that, our adored juniors then proceeded to offer ice cream to all the Academy! (And, in spite of the earlier contest, I ate almost as much in ice cream and toppings as I did breakfast food.) Finally, the world got together for volleyball. The end. Or not. You see, my joy was not yet realized, but it was about to be. In the midst of the volleyball game, I slipped out, not quite having any real, palpable joy. I loved the fun and the victories, but where was the true meaning? However, as I thought to myself, a friend of mine happened to come by. After a brief exchange, this person’s words imparted to me something I could carry home for Christmas. True joy, you see. The kind that warms your heart. Let me explain: Christmas has a lot of meaning. We care about Jesus, and we care for the propaganda almost as much. But when I think “joy,” I think of something I saw posted on the door of Mrs. Johnson’s classroom. The post said, “Be like Jesus. Give somebody the gift of being truly present this Christmas.” When I received this gift, and felt real joy, I realized that that’s exactly it. Almost the whole Academy was gathered together as one body, truly engaged in each other. When I looked back and saw that, I saw the gift being exchanged time and time again. And as I left not long after, as I looked back on the festivities, the gatherings, and the joy, I was proud to realize that in Pine Tree Academy, we get the meaning of Christmas. We just get it!
Jonathan, Joyful Junior