Tuesday Mar 19, 2024

The Christmas Pageant

I grew up in a gentler, more innocent time. The fifties was a time when America was just coming out of war and family life was settling down. There was an appreciation for togetherness that only living through war can invoke. A time when children were loved and nurtured, but most of all allowed to be children, not little adults. Christmas was an exciting time of year for the whole family. Shop windows were filled with snowy scenes of families and Christmas. Christmas trees lit up every park and lawn in the neighborhood. Every street corner was decked with holly and tinsel, bells, and stars. The hustle and bustle was cheerful there were smiles on faces. Cheerful greetings could be heard from miles around. Who would ever forget about the smells that accumulate from one house to another? That mixture of mincemeat and pumpkin pies baking, cookies of every type, shape and decoration even popcorn which would be strung for the Christmas tree. Every house you visited welcomed you with a plate of those wonderful delectable treats and a cup of hot chocolate. It was a delight to anticipate the coming of Christmas. It was not about the presents you were going to be receiving it was about what you were going to be giving. It was about the celebration of the Birth of Jesus. Every symbol that was seen was a reminder of the upcoming celebration. There was room for Santa and flying reindeer in the 1950’s. Jesus was always the center of the festivities; however, the Christmas Pageant was the excitement. Every local church prepared for the re-enactment of the Birth of Jesus. Every child of every age had a part, and every adult had their responsibilities. The organization from the community was massive in order to bring about this performance of the Royal Birth of Jesus. Music had to be found. Songs had to be learned for all ages. The manger scene had to be unburied from the basement of the church, and repairs made when Jimmy dared Johnny to stand on the manger. The camel had to be repainted, and the right leg had to be repaired because Susie tried to ride it and her weight broke the leg. My oh my! There was lots of work to be done. Roles had to be assigned. Costumes had to be made. There were angel dresses, for both boys and girls, their halo’s and wings to custom fit. Some wise pageant directors would elect to eliminate the wands which accompanied the angel costumes in years past. The halo’s and the wings were always the problem areas. It was only because children were children and loved to tip the halos and swish the wings. But what they added to the whole of the program was worth the fuss they created. The costumes for Mary, Joseph, the wise men and shepherds were somewhat easier. The only problem there was the gifts the wise men carried. It was all about organization; too early, the gifts given to the wise men would insure they would be opened and emptied boxes. Giving them too late, would insure some child screeching in horror “Someone stole the gold” in the middle of the pageant. That’s always a show stopper. One of many which had to be anticipated… to be honest with you it was always a delight when these “show stoppers” happened. Oops, I almost forgot… the staff the shepherds carried. They came in many different shapes and sized, some hooked (bad idea because they could hook any number of items for the entertainment of some). There were many hours of discussion if the staff was an important part of the pageant at all. They always remained and the responsibility of the child’s behavior rested on the parents. The choosing of Joseph and Mary had to be done with diplomacy. Mary and Joseph was a rite of passage among the older children in Sunday school. The wrong decision was always a traumatic ordeal. Diplomacy was the word of the day when it came to choosing these two distinguished people. Only the Sunday school teachers had the information needed to select the right people for the job. Oh, and a baby had to be found to play the Baby Jesus. That was a hard job to do because it was either feast or famine. Famine years were easy because a baby doll could be used. Those years of feast were hard because you had to take into account hurt feelings, not playing favoritism, the age of the baby played the major deciding point. The hardest assignment during these feast years was to tell and rationalize for the parents of the not selected baby the reasoning’s behind their selection. That was by far the toughest job of all. The putting it all together had to be timed and orchestrated. Hay had to be found, and the timing had to be perfect when it was delivered and laid in the church. Then it was time for the performances of a life time. The Christmas pageant night. The church would be packed with families excited to see their child, niece, nephew or grandchild give the performance of the year. To see the parents watch with such love and pride in their children, even when those unexpected blunders occurred, was a cherished moment never to be forgotten. Then came the treasured reward for all the children. The red flannel stockings with the green trim packed with oranges, a peppermint (not any of the fancy flavors of today) candy cane, and real peanuts in their shells, at the bottom of the socking was a note from the Sunday school teacher and a Bible verse. These were Christmas’s to be remembered.

In the hustle and bustle of our lives today Jesus has been pushed to the far corners of priorities. Christmas shopping is done on the internet and the Christmas decorations have gone up before Thanksgiving and earlier. By the time Christmas rolls around everyone is just plain tired of the holidays. Jesus is long forgotten if even considered at all. There are so many rules as to what can be displayed; after all we wouldn’t want to offend another religion at Christmas time. We have seemed to forget Christ is Christmas. This year instead of celebrating man’s holiday let’s get back to celebrating the birth of Christ our savior, Christ our King and Christ our Priest. Jesus Christ did not stay that cute little baby laying somewhere in a manger. His birth is important to us to “prove” Jesus did indeed take on a human form. Jesus Christ is exactly who He said He was the Son of God. Let’s honor Him this year for the Greatness He is in our lives.

Cite Article Source

MLA Style Citation:

Holstein, Joanne “The Christmas Pageant.” Becker Bible Studies Library Dec 2015.<https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2953,>.

APA Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015, December) “The Christmas Pageant.” Becker Bible Studies Library. Retrieved from https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2953,.

Chicago Style Citation:
Holstein, Joanne (2015) “The Christmas Pageant.” Becker Bible Studies Library (December), https://guidedbiblestudies.com/?p=2953, (accessed).

joanneholstein

Joanne Holstein is a Becker Bible Studies Teacher and Author of Guided Bible Studies for Hungry Christians. She is a graduate of Psychology/Christian and Bible Counseling with Liberty University. She is well-known as a counselor to Christian faithful who are struggling with tremendous burden in these difficult times. She is a leading authority on historical development of Christian churches and the practices and beliefs of world religions and cults.
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