Almost always in the second half of December, a certain spark of positive impatience awakens in people – surely the joy of Christmas, whose physical closeness we can feel, and under whose influence we all become children again, at least a little.   

The Church recognized this mood, born of Christmas drawing ever nearer, long ago when it divided the liturgical season of Advent itself into two parts: the first, in which we are reminded of Christ’s second and final coming, and the second, in which we recall His birth more directly.  

Therefore, we in our Croatian office decided to organize a Christmas gathering precisely in this second part of Advent, when the presence of this second-greatest Christian feast can be sensed, almost literally, in the air. Another reason that helped us choose the exact date was International Migrants Day, which falls on December 18, and in this way we decided to unite two different celebrations of the same hope into one.

We are proud that on December 18 we managed, in our premises at Maksimirska Cesta 286, to bring together various activities and numerous groups with whom we collaborate through our projects. The gathering itself was opened by our children, the youngest beneficiaries, through a musical performance as part of the El Sistema course, an alternative music education pedagogy implemented by the association “SODO Hrvatska.” After the musical performance came the distribution of gifts donated by the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Catholic University: as many as 230 children registered the gifts they wished for at Christmas, and the students of these two institutions truly made an effort to fulfill each child’s Christmas wish. We are especially grateful to the students for their generosity, not only of material resources, but even more of their time, and we rejoice that many children joyfully welcomed, perhaps without even knowing it, the birth of Christ.

The distribution of so many gifts alone was a major organizational undertaking, and no less important work was being done at the same time by volunteers from the Antun Gustav Matoš High School in Samobor, who served food and drinks to everyone present in the large common room. Through this initiative of hosting and volunteering, we continued our cooperation on the project “Together4Change”, the integration of refugees through encounters and collaboration with secondary school students.

As is often the case with us, the food was prepared by our volunteers, and this time we enjoyed savory and sweet dishes of Arabic cuisine, which is already well known and especially anticipated by all those who regularly attend our events and gatherings. To our volunteers, and to everyone described and mentioned above, our heartfelt thanks, and we wish you an abundance of joy and peace in the new year 2026!