Christmas time: Kirchhellen’s crèche café reports crowds after a forced break

“That’s Kirchhellen” is the motto in the kitchen of the parish home of St. Johannes to the rush at the nativity scene café, which is finally open again. For many visitors from Kirchhellen and also from abroad, a final visit to the nativity scene café is traditionally part of the extensive inspection of the large nativity scene in the church after Christmas.

For more than 20 years, guests have been spoiled with coffee and homemade cakes and tarts. After the two-year Corona stop, the organizers Hermine Dohmen and Margret Grob have been looking forward to the “nice change at the end of the year” since December 27th.

The women from Kirchhellen have been there from the start and say: “It’s still fun, you see so many happy people.” The usual two-week café business had to be reduced because some groups were no longer able to take part for reasons of age, but it was succeeded in integrating two new groups with younger members of the rural youth and the KjG (Catholic Young Community), so that ten days can be booked again. Each day is designed by a different group of the municipality, who are responsible for service and home-baked cake offers.

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Hermine Dohmen and Margret Grob did the planning, organized it and adapted it to the changed conditions. A few fewer chairs are offered and the tables are set a little further apart to create space and be considerate.

The “bosses” are almost always there, keep track of things and sometimes step in and at the end of the day, when the income is counted, “we also toast.” The two ladies are particularly happy about the many “known, good-humored ones and happy faces” who have already come in again.

Seats are running low in the rectory

The crib café is more than just a place to have coffee, it was and is a place for encounters and appointments. After the visit was very pleasant on the first day, the rush is also great on Wednesday. New guests are constantly coming in, so that the Bottrop group around Marlies Reichl felt compelled to deviate from the usual routine: instead of going to the crèche and then as usual going to the café, you feared for the free seats and changed the order.

Mechtild and Heinrich Brahm live directly across from the rectory and “will see when it starts.” They have been there from the beginning and enjoy the many different types of cake. Ulla and Jürgen from Oberhausen became aware of the café through “visiting the crèche and just think it’s nice here”, as does a couple from Rhade who feel comfortable because “it’s nice here too.”

Four friends from Bottrop see it in a similar way, who find it very comfortable and praise the delicious cakes and the friendly staff. This is what the KFD group “Women’s Meeting” is doing that day, which, in addition to the huge range of cakes, also has a lot of work to do with washing up, cleaning up or distributing dishes, but “it’s fun in the community, you meet friends and money is raised for a good cause together.”

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Christa is also there again and sells her stars, angels and doves of peace at the entrance, which she folds from pages of the old hymn book “Gotteslob”. The proceeds go to the children and youth hospice Gladbeck. “So I have to do all year round,” says the pensioner from Bottrop, who is already offering the first paper Easter eggs, “it’s not that long away.”

The nativity scene café in the parish home of St. Johannes is open daily from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. until January 6th. As always, the proceeds are used to support charitable associations or social institutions in the local area.

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