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Last year, Christy Trimble, a docent of The Cathedral of St. Joseph, began a new tradition with the students at our school. She had been giving tours of the cathedral and one of those tours was for a school in the diocese.

“I said, ‘It would be sad if our own students never got a tour of the church,’” Christy says. “I asked to do a pilot program with the kindergartners. I knew I wanted to do Epiphany because our creche is so beautiful.”

Christy’s grandson was in kindergarten at the time.

“It developed and it mushroomed,” she says. “Four times I met with the kindergartners and each time the Holy Spirit was with me. Something magnificent happened that I didn’t plan. I told the children before Christmas break to ‘meet me at the stable.’ It just fell out of my mouth. They said, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll meet you at the stable.’ Going forward, that’s the name attached to this time with the students.”

The current creche set was donated by Edie Vogel and her family.

“After my mother died, I told my sisters we’ve got to do something in memory of Mom,” Edie says. “I said, ‘Girls, why don’t we take a little bit of mom’s money that she left and buy a new Nativity scene?’ My mom died in 2005. In 2008, I made a trip down to St. Louis Catholic Supply. It was off-season. They had this wonderful Nativity scene on sale.”

Edie spoke with then-pastor Msgr. Kurwicki — he went to see the Nativity set and approved it.

“That’s where my family came in to donate the Nativity scene we’re using now as our crib set at Christmastime,” Edie says.

The day Christy was meeting the children at the stable for Epiphany, Edie happened to be there.

“I didn’t know she was going to be there,” Christy says. “But I said, ‘Could you be a part of my program, and I’ll introduce you to the children?’ She loved that idea. We had two kindergarten classes. She talked to them and told them how she and her family donated the creche set in memory of their mother. The kids seemed to enjoy that connection.”

“They were so well-behaved,” Edie says. “I thought, ‘This is wonderful.’”

Christy talked to the children about the meaning of Epiphany.

“I said to them, ‘Why did it take so long for the Wise Men to get to Bethlehem to see Baby Jesus?’” Christy says. “As soon as I asked them how many had ridden a camel, they came alive. So many had ridden a camel at the state fair or someplace else. They knew camels were slow-moving animals.”

“One little kindergarten kid popped up and said, ‘Well, where’s the camel?’” Edie adds. “The Nativity came with a donkey, a cow, and some lambs. I said, ‘You’re right. We’re going to have to get a camel.’ So boy, after Christmas, I shopped around and purchased a camel.”

Christy and Edie were both so happy to have this wonderful time with the children.

“The camel was a focal point for the children because of the Wise Men,” Christy says. “I asked her when the camels arrive if we could unbox them with that class because it happened with that class.

That’s what happened. When Edie brought the camel to our parish, Christy had the children — now in first grade — help open the box.

“I want them to remember that on this day when they were in first grade, they were the first ones to see the new camel,” Christy says.

Christy plans to make this a tradition.

“My goal is to stay with this first-grade class until they’re in eighth grade and pick different parts of the church,” she says. “You can sit in a pew and look at it, but sometimes you need closer examination and someone to explain. It sounds simple, but it really is magnificent to see their faces. They get so excited, and they love coming into the church. I want them to be excited and to volunteer and to be a part of our church family.”

“I know that the Church has offered all of us a chance to do good,” Edie adds. “I think the young people need to know that early in life, that everything is there for them in the Catholic Church.”