"Twas the Night Before Christmas..."

Tonight we had the opportunity to gather in Ladue Auditorium and listen to the President of the college read The Night Before Christmas and the gospel of Luke's account of the Christmas story, and it was nothing short of amazing. When I got the e-mail about it, I was incredibly excited. It was a bring your own mug event and they had hot chocolate and coffee for us to drink as we listened. I had just finished my incredibly long and time consuming psychology paper, so it was sort of a reward for finally getting done. We all sat on the floor as President Mannoia read the stories to us by the light of a single lamp. It was beautiful. I'm not exactly sure why it happened, but it made me cry when he read the stories to us. I've been incredibly emotional for the past while, and having President Mannoia read to us filled me with so much peace and comfort. It was really nice. I don't really know him that well, but I really admire President Mannoia. He's gone through a lot this last year after losing his wife to breast cancer this summer, and he has handled it with so much grace and has wholeheartedly continued to love and support the students, faculty, and staff of the college. Needless to say, I really needed tonight. I think we should have storytime with President Mannoia more often.