A Christmas Pageant

Near the end: a very unhappy star.
Photo by James Berghout

Last night, we were finally well enough to enjoy the ward Christmas party!  (Three plus weeks of coughing and hacking turned bronchitis for me and Samuel and Gabrie -- YUCK!)  We probably wouldn't have gone except the peer pressure was just plain insurmountable (thanks to Sister Tueller, Sister Anderson, Chelsea and Rachel).  It was just the three of us (me, James, and Gabriella).  Samuel fell asleep and stayed home with Essa.  Chrissee worked through it.  And Bethany and Daelynn were with their dad.

Our ward always has everyone dress in their Sunday finest for the Christmas dinner.  The food is placed under "tents" to remind us all of a sparkly Bethlehem.  And, bonus for me, they don't add a Santa Claus to the festivities.  (I LOVE this part because our family doesn't include Jolly Ol' St. Nick in our holiday.)  This year, they decided to have a Christmas Pageant as the entertaintment.  Who knew it would be such a show?!

Gabriella was asked at the last minute if she would be the Star.  She said yes and joyfully joined in.  But, we haven't been to church in several weeks so none of the primary songs were fresh in her mind and the star was a bit uncomfortable on her face.  She wasn't the only one having trouble.  Mary was taking her part very seriously.  So seriously, she forgot to sing any of the songs she'd been practicing for weeks!  She also began to nod off in the middle of the program.  The shepards were having less trouble with their sheep and more trouble with themselves an d the long, wooden hook soon became a gun aimed at the silver stars hanging from the ceiling.  Eventually, target practice moved center stage and one of the older boys picked up the wandering shepard causing his pants to fall under the weight of his Bethlehem "skirt" (thankfully, they didn't fall very far).  When the wise men brought Mary and Joseph their gifts, Mary woke to inspect them and accept them.  Joseph was very curious about the contents of the third wise man's box.  They discussed it at length, and when Joseph was satisfied that the box was completely empty, he sent the wise man away with it.  Some of the grown ups tried to tell the rejected wise man to set the treasure box down next to Joseph, but Joseph shook his head and flatly refused it.  Near the end, the angels couldn't help but gossip about all of the unheavenly things going on below them on Earth and the Star "fell" from the sky (Gabrie having tapped at the yellow foam long enough to get it off.)

Finally, we wrapped up the story with everyone singing Silent Night.  Gabriella was never so happy to go home.  I guess being the center of the stage can get a bit uncomfortable after a while.  You can check out a slide show of our Christmas Pageant by James Berghout.  (Thanks Bro. Berghout!)