When we last left our heroine (um, that’s me), she had gotten to church and found it was the day of the children’s Christmas Pageant (OK, enough with the third person; how pretentious). (You know, I think I started another post in a very similar fashion. Oh well, I like it, so at least one of us is happy)
It is always nice to go to church at Christmas time. There are poinsettias on the altar. People in the congregation wear their Christmas sweaters. We sing Christmas carols for some of the hymns. My church sings every verse of every song. The church I grew up in did not do that. Two verses and done. Sometimes during the six verse songs my throat gets a little sore, but in general I like it.
Actually, the music made me feel sad at first, because the church organist died this year. He was a truly sweet man. He never missed a Sunday if he could help it, and he always had a smile and a kind word. Apparently we don’t have a replacement organist yet, but a couple of strong voiced parishioners led the singing. Also, a young man played violin for two songs, and a young lady played the flute for one. Very talented young people around here.
The Christmas pageant was in place of the homily. Of course I usually enjoy Father Paul’s talks, but there’s just nothing like live theatre.
It was a very traditional pageant. Two girls who read very well narrated. The various characters came forward at the proper times and took their place in the tableau. Then two girls each played a song on the organ. My favorite characters were the littlest angel and the littlest shepherd. The angel couldn’t have been more than two or three (I can never guess ages accurately). A pig tailed red head, she was wearing a one piece pajama with wings attached. I think the littlest shepherd was her brother, maybe a year older. As he came forward, he went into the pew with his father to sit back down. His father directed him back toward the altar with the others.
I really enjoyed our pageant. I’m sure many other churches were enjoying similar spectacles. Isn’t Christmas great?
Mohawk Valley Girl 