Christmas is such a beautiful time of year, filled with dazzling lights, colorful cookies, and carefully crafted ornaments. At Mercy Home, we have a few decorating traditions of our own. From the annual lighting of our spectacular tree, to our manger scene, to various wreaths hanging throughout the Home – these decorations help our kids feel the magic of the holiday season.

In addition to the decorations shared throughout the Home, each individual program decorates their own space as well. It’s an opportunity for our kids to be creative and participate in the decoration process themselves.

“It can be a lot of firsts for a lot of kids,” said Keli Shllaku, a program manger at Mercy Home. “Some of the traditions that we do here – they were never introduced to before and it’s the first time. And they might feel like, ‘oh I like that. I might want to do that again sometime with my family or in the future.”

For Fernando, a resident of Mercy Home, his favorite part about decorating is the chance to spend time with those in his program.

“I like being together and having fun,” Fernando said. “And just how we express our ideas on the tree; just enjoying it. But just the time together – it doesn’t matter if we have to spend all this money to do all this other stuff.”