This year in Iowa, a weather-delayed corn harvest continued well after Thanksgiving. Large green or red farm tractors frequently passed Alpha Omega Academy® on their way to the grain elevator, pulling tandem hopper wagons piled high with Iowa gold. Although some farmers barely escaped with their crop before the winter snow, they were blessed with another good harvest, bringing to mind the words of the old hymn, "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come." "All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God, our Maker, doth provide, for our wants to be supplied."

Thanksgiving is about expressing joyous gratitude and acknowledging that we are given far more than we deserve. Yet, while Thanksgiving focuses more on material blessings, Christmas is all about God's stupendous gift of His Son to us. When the time was right, "God sent forth his Son" (Galatians 4:4), and "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" (1 Timothy 1:15).

The dedicated teachers of Alpha Omega Academy join me in hoping that the gratefulness and joy you experienced at Thanksgiving will carry you beyond the crass materialism associated with the current holiday season, enabling you to see afresh the true meaning of Christmas. If you are a parent of an AOA distance learning student, make a special effort to help your child see that Christmas is so much more than green, red, and white decorations, strings of lights, and endless appeals to buy certain items. Rather, Christmas is an amazing time to be thankful for what God has given to us, and we should celebrate by giving gifts to others.

"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15). Merry Christmas from all of us at Alpha Omega Academy!

David Bauman
Principal, Alpha Omega Academy