Christmas Program Memories

By

Shirley Bowden

Christmas has always been my favorite time of year.  I love the closeness of family and

friends, the decorations, the Christmasy scent of candles, wonderful smells of baking goodies, the pine or

fir tree pitchy smell.... But mostly the wonderful Story of God's love clothed in the form of  baby Jesus.  Of course as a Sunday School teacher for many years the tradition of “THE CHRISTMAS PROGRAM” was a huge part of the celebration of Christ's birth.  Oh, yes!  Memories of Christmas Programs.....When it was all done there was such a euphoric feeling of relief that it was over without too many glitches and that

 the wonderful story had been told again.

Memories....

Our Sunday School was booming.  Shortly before Christmas time, Dan and Janie had been canvassing and brought in quite a load of new students, including Johnnie.  He was about 5 years old.  Let's just say he was a challenge.... I had a feeling we were in trouble the night of the program as we put the belt of the angel costume on him and he struck a karate pose and yelled, “HAAJAAA!” (or however you spell that).  As the angels surrounded the manger scene all seemed to be going well....until Johnnie realized that the ramp leading up to the stage made a lovely hollow thumping noise when the shepherds walked up it.  He broke rank and ran down the ramp...thump, thump, thump...then back up the ramp...thump, thump, thump... several of us tried to catch him.  Back down the ramp and all the way back to the doorway.  Brother Ron made a grab and missed.  Back up the aisle with Bro Ron in hot pursuit, up the ramp...thump, thump, thump...and back down the aisle eluding Bro Ron again.  He made it back to the stage in time to exit with the other angels.  I'm sure the rest of the program was lovely; I just can't remember it.

The first year we made a video for the program, Paula and I had scoured the area looking for a donkey for Mindy to ride.  We did find a farmer willing to let us use his donkey.  But then he informed us it had never been ridden.  Mindy (Mary) rode Janie's horse. She and Jason (Joseph) emerged from the fog as she rode precariously bareback and sideways across the pasture to the Burton's barn.  The angels truly were singing “on high” as they stood in the loft of the barn over the manger where my 6 month old granddaughter portrayed baby Jesus.  It was COLD out, but there was something so special in reenacting this familiar scene. We all enjoyed watching the video with the audience during the program rather than performing it on stage.

Several years later we made another video for the program.  The shepherd scene was done on our property around a fire at night.  Again, it was cold, but the Shepherds were probably cold that night also!  However the most fun doing that video was filmed at a friends llama & donkey farm.  I don't think I have ever laughed harder than when Jon Mincks was “trying” to lead the llama (portraying a camel) as they “followed the star”.  The llama did not agree with the script.  Or maybe it objected to the Wise Man costume.  Jon was probably about 10 at that time.  There was definitely a battle of wills going on.

I don't think the llama spit on him, but it was getting close to that point.  Aileen did a great job editing and the video was great, but while filming it, there were several moments I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.  Again, it was a joy to watch the video with the audience rather than frantically trying to keep everything in order behind the scenes. 

There is a lot of work involved in making a Christmas Program, but it is worth it as God's Gift is proclaimed once again.  Many of the parents have memories of when they were children and performed in their Christmas Program.  Hopefully it touches their hearts.