Season of eating
SC students and community members gather together at Christmas dinner
Launch the media gallery 1 playerLast Friday, the Student Council and the lunch staff collaborated to put together the annual Christmas dinner, serving chicken-fried steak, cheesy potatoes, buns, green beans, potato salad, beets, fruit salad, the regular salad bar, a chocolate cake and ice cream was served at the dinner. Sandy Creek students, staff and community members joined together, broke out the good china and shared a meal, taking a break from the hectic pre-holiday schedule.
“We do the Christmas dinner so that kids who do not always get to have a formal meal can, and it is a good way to bring in senior citizens,” said head cook, Mrs. Linda Skalka.
The event included tables, chairs, table cloths and even butter knives to make the event special. Some upperclassmen girls even wore their prom dresses from last year.
“I like that the Christmas dinner gives us an opportunity to wear our prom dresses again and dressing up is also an unspoken ‘thank you’ to the lunch ladies. We all really appreciate everything that they do,” said senior Addison Kuta.
STUCO members hosted the dinner and acted as waiters and waitresses to the other high school students. Members were excused from classes to set up and decorate for the dinner. Some of their duties were setting tables with table cloths, silverware, cups and plates; setting out water; serving desserts and cleaning up afterwards.
The rest of the students catch a break from class time as well. They are allotted an extra half hour to take their time eating and chatting with their friends.
Sophomore Dylan Schweer said, “It was fantastic to have 45 minutes of being with my friends and eating cheesy potatoes.”
The Christmas dinner is one of the only times where the cooks get to prepare a meal that doesn’t follow the restrictions of the lunch program. This Christmas dinner was particularly special because it was the last one that would be cooked in the present kitchen with it being torn down next school year.
“I always appreciate the help of the Student Council and love seeing the kids dress up. I’m really sad that this might be the last year Christmas dinner,” said Skalka.
The holiday season is about thankfulness, family and friends, generosity and most importantly: food. A delicious meal like the Christmas dinner can boost the morale of worn out students at the end of the semester. With a week of school and semester tests in the way of their Christmas break, a yummy homemade meal might just be what they needed to push through! The students seem to enjoy their dinner together and be thankful to the lunch ladies for delivering an awesome Christmas dinner to their plates once again. Hopefully it’s tradition that will continue for years to come.