Dec 26, 2007 20:30
Composed 15:42 12/25/2007
OVERRIVER THRUWOODS, WV -- This year, I was a little bit more involved in the church Christmas play than just playing the music. I played "Dad" to Isaiah in a cute little play where I read him a story (i.e., the script) while the kids sang songs in between.
Items of note:
* At the first practice Kaylee (the daughter of my co-teacher Lisa) was slated to be Mary, but there were no other boys nowhere close to her age (7th grade) besides Isaiah (5th). She promptly decided, "Mary doesn't need a man." Her cousin Kasidi, the drama queen of the church, eventually became Mary, and a friend of Isaiah's was drafted to play Joseph.
* After about the third practice, Natalie asked her mother why those "three wee kings of Orient are" were so small.
* Kasidi's brother Kory also came on board (as a shepherd) but apparently was not impressed with the doll playing the baby Jesus. So during one practice, he decided that he'd try out the role -- which meant that, in the flow of the narrative, his sister had given birth to him. During the actual play, he decided that it would be better if his teddy bear filled the role instead.
* Since I was involved in the play, I couldn't exactly break character and play the two songs not already on a CD. The first one would be easy -- to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" -- and there was sheet music to the second, so I figured Pat (our minister's wife) could more than ably fill in.
Turns out, she is not the piano player that I am. She said that, even with a simple tune like that, she'd need the sheet music. To which her husband Ed said, "Yeah, she has hair. She can't play off the top of her head like you can." *rim shot*
* Oh, did I mention I also played a certain Saint of the moment?
I was scheduled to quick-change while the kids sang "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," and having been at the practices, the kids had been singing all three verses.
Well, listening to the speaker system downstairs while getting changed, I heard the kids finish their one verse. So I had to dash upstairs: no boots, no belt, and of course no internal air conditioning in the suit.
I can't imagine what the grown-up crowd was thinking -- "Is he going to collapse?" "Is he going to start crying?" -- I just know I was out of breath trying to deliver the Christmas greeting.
But I did impress 3YO Harley, Natalie's Xth cousin (their mothers are second cousins; you do the math): "Wow! I didn't know Santa was coming tonight!"
kasidi,
isaiah,
natalie,
harley,
kory,
kaylee