A Light in the Darkness: Celebrating Christmas at Mercy Home

December 23, 2025

Holiday cheer was in the air at Mercy Home as our young people and coworkers celebrated Christmas. The beloved annual tradition began with a spiritual celebration that included youth speakers and a reflection from Fr. Scott, a delicious meal, and a visit from former Mercy Home coworker “Dreezy Claus” (AKA Chicago’s Black Santa Claus) and his crew of merry helper elves. At the event at our girls home, Mrs. Claus also made a special appearance to help her jolly hubby hand out gifts and spread Christmas spirit.

Each spiritual celebration began with reflections from our young people about ways they find light in the darkness. Several of our young men shared ways Mercy Home helped them find hope in difficult times.

“For a long time, I didn’t know what my life was … I hadn’t completely found myself,” Judah said. “But I wanted freedom and I thought freedom was doing whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. But later I realized that freedom comes with maturity. Once I started to grow up mentally, everything shifted. I stopped shutting people out and started communicating. … I started listening to my advocates and they helped me.”

Our young women also reflected on finding light in the darkness at their spiritual celebration. 

“I saw my light in the darkness, even when things around me looked not very easy,” Daejenae said. “I met a really kind woman who reminded me I wasn’t alone. She gave me books that spoke to me and journals where I could say what I couldn’t out loud. Some days are still hard, healing isn’t easy, but every day gets a little better. You have to take it one day at a time. … Even in the darkness, there’s still light finding its way to me.”

Fr. Scott then shared his own reflection on the Christmas season with our kids and coworkers. He shared how he recently gave a gift of a Mary statue to a friend. Even though the statue was damaged, his friend loved it and put it in her prayer room with other broken Mary statues. This interaction led Fr. Scott to contemplate the brokenness each of us experiences in our own lives.

“There’s something in all of us that is a bit broken,” he said. “We all have our issues … but they don’t dominate who we are. Christmas season is a time to simply accept who we are and that we are the very children of God. We’re loved by God no matter what.”

Fr. Scott explained that the holidays are a time to think about God’s love being a gift to us. And that love took the form of him sending his son, Jesus, to us, with a message of love.

“So on this celebration of Christmas here at Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, [think of] God’s love for each and every one of you, for your family members, for your friends, for the strangers in the world that we don’t know, for those who suffer and struggle in life. We can be the light that you were talking about, and we can be the love that we all celebrate through Jesus.”

After dinner and dessert, our young people awaited Dreezy Claus’s arrival and even enjoyed a dramatic reading of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Our young people were thrilled to open their presents and make Christmas memories with their peers.

An enormous thank to all our coworkers, donors, and friends who work so hard during the holiday season to give our young people the Christmas they deserve.