The Christmas Concert

This year's Christmas concert at the church went well. We had it Sunday evening. Preparing for it always seems stressful, with the worry that no one will know his or her parts and everything will fall apart. We have one full rehearsal on Sunday morning during Sunday School time and never once have all the students shown up for the rehearsal. In the end, though, it works.

Some of my favourite parts:
1. The girls singing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel." They didn't practice until Sunday morning (and argued that they only knew about it for a week, which is nonsense). In fact, some of them weren't there in the morning for the rehearsal, so they were still rehearsing at 5:30 Sunday evening (the concert started at 6). They actually did a very good job.

2. One of my small shepherds played "Angels We Have Heard on High" on the piano during the angel and shepherd scene (and did a great job because his parents had him practice a lot). He had his music book tucked into his housecoat (we believe in simple costumes) and pulled it out to play his song. Then, as he rejoined the other shepherds, he tucked it back into his robe.

3. Mary and Joseph managed to stay relatively still the whole time they were on stage. They were up there for a large portion of the concert, just kneeling by the manger (okay, doll crib, but we had real straw in it). Mary had a lovely pink pillow to kneel on (I think it was a Disney princess pillow) which happily no one could see) and Joseph was wearing his Jedi robe. It seems that "male Bible character" and "Jedi" are rather interchangeable!

4. One of my little guys sang "What Child is This" while his sister played it on the guitar. I think they had the mic turned up: the first word blasted out! It didn't bother him at all, they adjusted the mic, and he sang out wonderfully. His sister played very well also.

5. At the end, Pastor Lyle usually does a sermon or short talk. This year they brought up a rocking chair for him and the children sat on the floor around him as he read the story of Christmas to them. They started out mostly on the floor beside him, but by the time he was done they were crowded close on both sides and behind (looking over the top of the chair) to see the pictures.

6. As the ending, we sang Silent Night and had the candles lit and it was all properly Christmas-y.