My youngest Christmas Play 2010

My youngest Christmas Play 2010

"Act 1:  Is it real?
Please can you tell me, is the Christmas tree real?  (Taps her chin.)
Shall we go exploring?  (Waves arms up in the air.)
Yes, then! Let’s do. 

Song 1 - Joy to the World

Scene Change - Set in the Park

Act 2:  Looking for trees.
Look here’s some trees.  (Pointing to the trees.)
Oh, these look real so maybe the Christmas tree is real.
We need to go and find some more trees.
So come on.

Scene Change - A different part of the Park

Act 3:  More trees.
Oh look over there, there is loads.  There is about 50 trees.  (Waves hand in a big arch.)
Ummm, I am not sure, that is real. 
Ah, that is a good idea, go and tap the tree trunk.  (Taps the tree trunk.)
It feels wooden. 
I am not sure that is real.  (She scratches her head.)


Song 2 - We wish you a Merry Christmas (with dance)

Scene Change - At the beach

Act 4: Moss On the beach.
Look over there, I can see some moss.  (Points to the distance.)
Oh look out, here comes a car.  (She ducks.)
Phew, the car has gone.  (Wipes her brow.)
Feel the moss, it feels soft and furry.  (Touches the moss.)
Oh look, here comes the parents, now we can sing our song.

Song 3 - Silent Night

Scene Change - The field

Act 5: Grass looks like tree leaves
I have just discovered that grass looks like tree leaves.
Ummm, lets pick some grass and put it next to a leaf.  (Puts next to a leaf and compares.)
Well, it doesn’t look like a leaf after all.
What do you think?  Do you think it looks like a leaf? 
Oh look it looks exactly like a Christmas tree leaf.  It long and thin.  (Pulls grass with hand.)
It looks like winter to me.  There is snow everywhere.  (Waves her hand.)
Right, lets pick up some snow and have a snowball fight.
Great idea!  Oh look up there, a bird.
Lets attract it into the window by the Christmas tree.  If the bird comes than the tree might be real because birds like trees.

Scene Change - A field of cows

Act 6: Why does a cow eat Christmas trees?
Look the bird has gone into the cow field.  It has perched on the tree.  That means that soon we might find out if that is a real Christmas tree. 
Lets go and feed the cows a bit of the Christmas tree.  It eat it so the tree must be real.

Song 4 - The First Noel

Scene Change - Home

Act 7: Finding out what Christmas is about.
So we know that a Christmas tree is real because the cow eat it. 
Oh but what is Christmas about?  We discovered the Christmas tree is green so maybe that is important.
Maybe a light on the Christmas tree means that a light came to the world on the very first Christmas.
Lets go and ask Mum.

Song 5 - Go tell it on the Mountain

Scene Change - In the kitchen

Act 8: Asking Mum.
Mum, please will you tell me what Christmas is about. 

This is the whole story.  Mary and Joseph travelled many miles to their home town Bethlehem to pay their taxes.  Mary was to have a baby.  Mary rode on a donkey and Joseph walked.  There was no room in the Inn so they rested in a dirty stable.  (Holds her nose.)  Mary had a baby at night.  There were loads of animals in the stable and they crowded around when the baby was born.  The baby was Jesus and the Christmas tree light reminds us of the light Jesus.

Song 6 - Hark the Herald Angels sing


Bow


The End."


I was told what to type.  Occasionally, I gave suggestions which were not always taken!  Stage directions are in italics!

That girl is a hard task master as she was very specific.  I am not sure where we are getting the scenes from or even where this play is to be performed.

Nostalgia

This weekend is the 25th Anniversary of our Church's existence.  We were not here in the beginning.  We were a long way away in a far off land (well the next county along).  We hadn't met each other.  In fact, we were just weird looking kids with really bad hair and terrible dress sense.  I know it was the 80s but imagine that and then some!  Any photographic evidence is hidden away at our parents homes.  So please take my word for it.  My ambition was to get to the end of my school days alive and Alan was going to be a hermit living in a wardrobe somewhere up a mountain.  Thankfully, I survived school days breathing and Alan decided that the inside of a wardrobe was only good if it led to Narnia.  So he choose Bible College and Church Ministry instead (or rather God called him along that path.)

We started going out in 1987 and have been together ever since.  This weekend we are having our own time of Nostalgia.  The "Some Kind of Wonderful" soundtrack has been sprung from its box and we both know the lyrics off by heart.  I think I look good wearing Alan's future (well, the CD collection that he sold to buy my engagement ring!)  Another of our favourite films was "She's Having a Baby". 



Back in the day it was lovely to spend hours together doing nothing and having no responsibility; having my younger sister sit between the 2 of us when we tried to spend a minute or 2 together!!  I have my suspicions that she was a spy from the family firm but I can't prove it.  Time spent in the Church Crypt listening to music on the old juke box; even now certain songs can transport me back to those days.  (I should explain that we weren't that weird but our youth club was held there.)

Looking forward to the next 25 years of the Church and also life with Alan.  One day this period of my life will fill me with wistful Nostalgia. I prepare the powerpoint for church and have inserted small pictures of things from 1985.  Not very mature but it was good fun doing it!  Our Church celebrates 25 years along with 'Back to the Future', 'Calvin and Hobbes', 'Live Aid', 'Elmo' and many more.

Nostalgia is good and leaves a warm fuzzy feeling but it will not get the cakes made for the Anniversary tea.  So I must away to the kitchen and start baking.  And at the party tonight to celebrate 25 years for the Church me and my girls are planning to whoop everyone in the guess the baby photo competition! 

Dedicated to my husband.

This post is dedicated to the man who has put up with me for a very long time. 



Because the original is one of his favourite songs!!!!!  Whahaha.  Oh so funny.  J/K.


Here is one he really likes:



Let us grow old and slightly crazy together.

Not my daughters?!

I am sorry Mrs .... but yes you can hear your daughters having a (at the top of their lungs) conversation with some of the other neighbourhood children describing in graphic detail their respective sicknesses.  Yes, in great detail.  They just don't get this quiet and decorum bit yet at all.  Oh brother, I ask you?  What will I do with them?  Swiss Finishing School, methinks.  Aren't girls supposed to be delicate and dainty - sugar and spice and all things nice?  Why do mine sound more like the opening 20 minutes of the first Shrek film?

Prayer

I really wish I could say I was a prayer warrior.  Someone who took all and everything to God in a never-ending conversation.  I am afraid I can't tell you that.

Just recently at a Bible study I go to I shared how I find prayer really difficult.  In fact, I told the ladies that sometimes I find prayer scary.  I am afraid of what the answers may be and how I will react to them!  I look back at some of the big prayers I have prayed and still can't work out why I got NOs.  Some of my biggest struggles with prayer are in regards to my family.  Being a wife and a mum was a large part of my desires when I was a little girl.  Family life has not always been easy for me (I really can't explain all here as I am just too British: Stiff-upper lip and all that).  I thought having children would be a piece of cake: after all miscarriage and having problems with child-bearing are genetic right?  Umm, no.  I prayed some specific prayers but still got the answer NO.  After 8 years of various struggles I had my 2 girls.  And being a mum has been full of things I would never have dreamed of: good and bad.

I still pray.  Although, sometimes big stuff I am reluctant to bring to God.  The answers scare me.  So I will keep going on and one day I will be able to trust fully again.  Christians tell me that God has my good at the centre of His thinking (which in many respects I know and believe) and then they spend hours worrying about small things, sometimes to the point of inactivity. I am afraid Christians can be glib sometimes.  I know I have btdt many a time.

Having said all that.  I came home and wished I hadn't been so open.  Now these ladies know something that I haven't shared with anyone (except my husband); at least not to the extend I told them.  I am a PK and a PW so prayer should be easy for me!?!?!  Later that day I was surfing the internet and I came across a website that has really helped me.  Someone else understood how I think sometimes.  My thoughts on infertility, not being able to be pregnant, bear a child, losing a few months of your child's life etc etc.

I read this article.  Story a little different but someone understood.  Maybe, if I can understand that my feelings in this are perfectly normal then I will be able to untangle my problems with prayer and trust.

Tightning the Purse Strings

Not that I own a purse with strings you understand.  This week the UK Government have announced cuts and lots of them.  As a Nation we owe a lot of money.  The good times are about to stop rolling it would appear.  I have tried to find out what the cuts mean for me and my family budget but can't make sense of the specifics. 

However, I realise that I don't fall into any category of thinking on this subject.  I think that we all need to accept the cuts.  For instance, Welfare will be seriously hit.  I am in agreement if the person could find another way of making their money, if they see benefits as a way of income for no valid reason etc.  I am not in favour of drawing benefits for life and believe in constant review.  I have seen too many people claim benefits for the most flimsy of reasons.  And then I hear (anecdotally) of the 73 year old lady who cares for her 40-something son.  He can't work due to a stroke a few years ago.  They are not entitled to any help at all.  Not a penny.  He has paid tax and National Insurance for years.  So I am in favour of a complete overhaul of our Welfare system.

I also like the idea of this. 



Surely, both aspects of cuts are needed to reduce the debt that this country is in?

Adoption

I have been affected by adoption in a myriad of ways.  As a Christian I believe that through Jesus and His death and resurrection I have been adopted into the family of God.  I have lots of brothers and sisters that I otherwise wouldn't have.  A spiritual connections with people from across the globe (and the internet brings some of them close.)

My 'here-on-earth' children were brought to me by the adoption system of my country.  Some of the people I rub shoulders with would like that fact to be erased from history, and hint that the mere mention of the word is somehow wrong.  On the other hand, others would like me to believe that adoption is the only thing our family is defined by.  I know the impact it has is different on any given day; how my children feel, how I feel, etc etc.  My children have very different opinions on their adoption and all the issues that spring from it.  The other day I was amazed as they tried to explain to each other their diverse thoughts on this complex subject.  If I didn't have a self-imposed ban on photos of them on my blog I would post a picture here.  Please imagine 2 rapidly growing girls with pale freckled complexions and red hair.

I assume this video is doing the rounds as I came across it in 2 separate places this morning and thought I would share it here.  I found it a good reminder.


Isaiah's Story from 31Films on Vimeo.