Why I'm REALLY looking forward to the Christmas Pageant

Dear Friends in Christ –

As I type this, I’m keeping one eye on the grey sky out my kitchen window. The sky has lightened over these past hours from a dark soot-grey to a lighter feather-grey, a sign that snow will likely start to fall soon. Weather reports predict that a bunch of snow will fall this evening.

I hope it doesn’t snow so much that we have to cancel the Christmas pageant. I’m looking forward to the pageant more than ever this year because of two disappointing events this week at my kids’ schools.

On Wednesday, my husband and kids attended Candlelight Night at my daughter’s school. One of the parents had told me that it would be an ethnic potluck (each family’s encouraged to bring a dish related to their heritage) and time to tell stories about family traditions around the holidays. The woman led me to believe that the kids usually focused on things they did related to their various religious traditions. But my husband came home frustrated, saying that somehow this year’s conversation focused on the favorite presents the kids received and never moved on to anything deeper.

On Friday, I went to participate in the sing-a-long at my son’s preschool. Since the preschool is at a church, I expected there to be a range of songs, at least a few of which would be Christmas carols. No luck with the carols. Songs about reindeer and bells that jingle, songs about Hanukkah dreidels and penguins, but nothing remotely relating to the real meaning of Christmas.

The truth is, Ed and I wouldn’t have been so disturbed about the choice of topics or songs for the events if the sense of community among the participants would have been warmer. But the truly sad thing at both events was that people didn’t make any effort to connect with people they didn’t already know. There was no sense of reaching out, much less seeing beneath the surface. At my son’s sing-a-long, parents were so busy taking pictures and the kids were so busy posing for their parents that there wasn’t much actual singing going on. The music teacher anticipated that problem and came armed with a solution: canned background music that included children’s voices.

So I’m REALLY looking forward to the Christmas pageant. Not only is the pageant about the actual reason the Christmas, the birth of Christ our Savior, but it’s something we do together as a community. Pageant practice today was happy chaos, with kids in sheep costumes poking each other and missing their cues. But the angels helped each other put their wings on, and I saw a girl give “thumbs up” to her sister when she did a good job. The kids’ carol-singing may not be ready for Broadway, but they sing with gusto, and pretty much on key. Snow or no snow, they’re ready.

Christmas is about figuring out how to live into the goodness that Christ brings. I’m glad to be a part of a community where we give our time and talents to share about what we believe, where we really celebrate the Reason for the Season.

Faithfully with you,
Janet+