By Justin Creech
Staff Writer
Thursday, December 20, 2012

Children of active-duty and retired servicemembers in the surrounding community 10-years-old and younger are invited to Fort Belvoir’s Religious Education Center Dec. 24, 8-10 a.m., for the Breakfast with the Angels event.

Teenagers from the Center’s Youth Group will dress up as angels and serve Families a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, croissants, chocolate milk and juice while discussing the biblical meaning of Christmas.

“On each table, we have drawings of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the stable,” said Sister Michael Bochnowski, Garrison director of Religious Education. “The teenagers talk to the kids about it. They ask them what they are going to do for Christmas and what Christmas means to them.”

Those who want to attend the breakfast must make a reservation by Dec. 22.

Discussing the meaning of Christmas with the children is a wonderful opportunity to focus on the day’s origin, according to Chaplain (Maj.) Kristi Pappas.

“Breakfast with Angels is a wonderful opportunity for children to celebrate the coming of the Christ Child with breakfast and the focus is on the Angels bringing forth the good news,” said Pappas. “It is an absolutely delightful event to attend.”

Christmas-themed crafts will be available for the children to participate in, plus face painting and storytelling.

The event started as an outreach project for the Youth Group, but over the years has grown into an event that shows children the non-commercial side of the holiday, according to Bochnowski.

“It’s really grown to where we have a couple hundred people that usually come,” said Bochnowski. “It’s two hours on Christmas Eve morning where the children get the true meaning of Christmas instead of staying at home watching cartoons. We want to help them understand what Christmas is all about.”

Bochnowksi said she knows the children are excited in anticipation of the presents they are going to get, but because they come to the church they understand what the breakfast is about.

The aspect of the breakfast that excites Bochnowski is the number of former Youth Group members who come back and ask to be an angel so they can participate in the breakfast.

“What amazes me is some of the youth who are now in college will come back and ask to be angels because it means so much to them,” said Bochnowksi. “I have to stand back and watch and it’s a great opportunity for them to help young children.”

The announcement of the breakfast still excites the children of the church, according to Bochnowksi. It’s a reaction that also excites her.

“When I put the flyers out, I heard the children say ‘Oh, breakfast with the angels! We have to sign up!’” said Bochnowski. “So, you can see it’s made an impression on them.”