As is tradition, the College celebrated mid-Winter Christmas on the first weekend of the second semester.
The magic of Christmas comes from the people. Unfortunately, with the festive season falling in the middle of the summer break, when our Members are back at home with their families, the College misses out on the opportunity to celebrate this holiday with one another. Because of this, each year we place great emphasis on celebrating the festive season as a College community, enjoying one another’s company, the gift of giving, and some very, very good food.
Every year, the Members’ Executive put on a skit for Members to kick-off our celebrations. This year, a very fierce dance battle took place between Santa’s reindeer (the female members of the Executive) and his elves (the male members of the Executive) in a fight to see who would be loading up Santa’s sleigh this Christmas.
Following this, the floors took part in the annual inter-floor gift giving. As has been the case for many years, each floor gifted another floor supplies for their kitchen. There was a great deal of excitement as floors received everything from rice cookers and pots to large tins of milo!
Later in the evening we had our Mid-Winter Christmas Formal Dinner. As always, the kitchen put on a delicious feast that was enjoyed by all and Members provided some beautiful music performances.
We were joined by Rev Jordan Redding, a Chaplain at the University of Otago and Associate Minister of Knox Church. During his speech, Rev Redding reflected on the challenges experienced by Members this year and the hope and self-compassion that was needed in light of the last few months. To illustrate the importance of these messages, he told stories from St Margaret’s history, including the adversity experienced in the establishment of our College and the nursing support that was provided to the Dunedin Community by our Members during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic.
It was a lovely evening that was enjoyed by all!
(Story by the Dean of Students, George Connolly)
