ROCKLAND – Christmas Day was festive at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, in Rockland, where many gathered for a holiday dinner.

The Adas Yoshuron Synagogue, of Rockland, held its annual celebration of Christmas and Hanukkah for those less fortunate, or who wanted to share in the spirit of Christmas.

Synagogue members  prepared and served dinner to the church’s attendees.

Lael Sorensen, priest and rector for Saint Peter’s, said St. Peter’s has held community meals — Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter – for more than 45 years, and to have the Synagogue host the Christmas dinner is a loving gesture.

“For busy Christians, for our Jewish friends to come out and serve is really a magnificent, magnificent thing and we are so terribly grateful,” she said.

Linda Garson Smith is on the board of Adas Yoshuron Synagogue and also coordinates the Easter, Christmas meal and the once-a-month soup kitchen at Saint Peter’s Church.

Smith said it is the 30th anniversary of the synagogue sponsoring the Christmas Community Meal.

“I feel gratitude toward the restaurants that prepared the food, the cooks, caterers, the people who donated supplies, the servers and everybody that contributed to making this a wonderful meal,” she said.

Smith said there was a tremendous attendance this year.

“There are 130 people here right now,” she said. “We had to add an extra table and we were considering seating people in the basement. Food-wise we’re prepared and staff-wise we’re prepared, but we only have so much space. We’d like to avoid seating in the basement because the ambiance is not as attractive as upstairs, but we’ll do what we have to do to make sure everybody gets fed. And we have food to send home with people, too.”

Smith said there were approximately 40 volunteers at the church.

“That does not include the people who picked up all the food,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of help. It was not hard to get people to volunteer from the synagogue and the wider community, as well.”

Smith said she began planning the meal in October to make sure everything was prepared by Christmas Day.

The main meal, including turkey, mashed potatoes, dressing, and roasted vegetables, was served family-style at the tables.

There were also appetizers, two types of soup, bread, and desserts. It all came off without a hitch and was the picture of graciousness and efficiency.