Two Days Until Christmas

One of the things I miss since my children have grown up is Christmas pageants.  There was always a Christmas pageant at church that included all the children.  The Sunday School director would drag out the wooden manger and fill it with straw.  Baby Jesus was usually a doll but the Sunday School children played all the rest of the parts in the nativity scene, with the little ones usually being the angel choir. My children have been involved in some unforgettable Christmas pageants through the years.

There was the year someone discovered a microphone hidden in the manger and pointed it out to the others.  From that point in the program, all of them huddled around the manger and sang right into it.  The only thing we could see was the tops of their heads as they all bent over the manger/mic.

Another year the poinsettas that decorated the platform were plucked bald by nervous children before the program was over.  Thankfully no one ate the blooms.

Once one of my children, who will not be named in this post, confused the lines and instead of saying, "This gift is not just for me, but for all mankind." said, "This gift is not for all mankind, but just for me."

My favorite program was the year another child, not to be named but whose picture follows this post, had been very quiet and subdued during every practice.  We were worried that the unnamed child would not even participate during the actual program.  To our amazement, on the big night, our little angel leaped onto the platform and enthusiastically flapped her wings during the whole song, almost smacking the other angels and singing at the top of her little lungs, "in express tomatoes" instead of "in excelsis Deo."

The Christmas program that we saw this year was amazing, beautifully capturing the awe and majesty of this wonderful season, but I missed my little angels or shepherds confusing their lines and flapping their wings while mangling the words of Christmas carols.