Redeemer families and fans now have yet another reason to be proud of their school.  Several hard-working parents (and one teacher) put together a stunning gingerbread house float that won first prize in the spiritual category – which includes other private schools and several churches — at the annual Harrisonburg Christmas Parade.

Over a thousand spectators gathered along main street on the evening of December 4^th to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season by watching several marching bands,  antique cars, fire engines and gingerbread-themed floats pass by.  Redeemer Classical School’s was one of the first floats, with a pick-up truck decorated to look like a giant bed full of students dressed in cozy pajamas and night caps.   Trailing along behind was the float – a dreamy candy cane forest surrounding a 10 foot tall gingerbread house full of more Redeemer children dressed in adorable gingerbread man costumes, waving and smiling as they passed.   Older students and parents, including board members Jaye Brumfield and Tim Peters, dressed in chef outfits, walked along beside the float passing out candy, bookmarks and invitations to our upcoming Festival of the Ages, Pioneer Days event being held February 20, 2-5pm (free & open to the public). Add hundreds of Christmas lights and a great mix of Christmas music emanating from the magical forest, and the effect was complete.  One parade-watcher exclaimed to teacher Jane Fowler, “What a wonderful gift to the community!”.   Yeah, that’s what we’re about.

You can see the float in this video one of our parents posted.

Redeemer especially wants to thank Lowe’s for their generous donation of supplies,  Dan Velker of Virginia Cabinetworks, for building a completely re-usable house for us, and KFC for donating buckets for our gumdrops.

Special thanks also goes to the float committee: Jaye Brumfield, Jane Fowler, Kary Phillips, Leslie Fries,  Nicole Haskell and Zoe Hansen; to Megan Kite and Jane Fowler for making costumes; to Jonathan and Larry Brumfield for electrical and set-up help and for driving the float;  to Justin Luebben for the use of his truck and Todd Pitsenberger for the use of his flatbed; to Harrisonburg First Church of the Brethren for letting us assemble the float in their parking lot; to Covenant Presbyterian Church for the use of their music system; to Jay Monger for the power source for our lights; and to Ron Phillips for bringing us pizza on parade night!

Thanks also to all the parents who participated in the parade: Jonathan and Jaye Brumfield, Tim Peters, Jim Fries, Tonya Eppard, Lindy Landes and Kristin Lihos.  And to all our cheerful, smiling students: Jose Elledge, Joshua Storella, Makenna Eppard,  Mariah Stapel, Anna Phillips, Ellie Hansen, Ella and William Peters, Kelly, Colin and Nicole Landes, James and Emma Veerman, Virginia Velker, Josie and Jessie Brumfield, Mikaela and Declan Leach and Annabelle and Audrey Lihos.

As the Christmas Season is upon us, we at Redeemer are excited to celebrate this special time of year.  We have several upcoming events that you and your family won’t want to miss.

First, Redeemer will have an elaborate float in the downtown Harrisonburg Christmas parade this Friday, Dec. 4th.  You won’t want to miss it.  The parade starts at 7:00 and will feature over 100 participants this year.  We are 4th in the line up.  Several of our students will be riding on the float or walking along beside it handing out candy.

Then we will have our first annual Christmas Tree lighting on Wednesday, December 9, at 5:30 p.m. We’ll sing some carols, light the tree and then share some light refreshments.

Finally, the school Christmas Program will be at the United Methodist Church in Keezletown at 6:30 on the evening of Dec. 10th.  The program will include musical selections, recitations and a short play.

We hope everyone will be able to come and celebrate the season with us!