Search Results for: The Christmas Pageant

The Christmas Pageant

Backstory

This Christmas story is absolutely true. Daughters Cheryl and Lisa and son Michael acted out the skit. We have the photos that captured it. All Cheri’s ideas were based on the Christmas teachings that had touched her heart. Their actions touched ours. Listen in or read the text, please.

Christmas Pageant

It was our first Christmas in our first real house. The children were 7, 4, and 3 – quite a handful, and so full of the Christmas spirit.

The oldest had learned in school about giving gifts from the heart. She wisely brought home the message that gifts need not be the biggest or the most expensive, to show love. She wanted to give her mom and dad a Christmas gift from the heart. She convinced her little sister and brother to put on a Christmas pageant for us, as our gift.

As the oldest, she played the key role of the virgin Mary, dressed in one of my frilly white nightgowns. Her sister, complete with aluminum foil halo, was an angel holding a wooden spoon, no doubt representing something angelic. Their toddler brother was a shepherd dressed in brown towel tied at the waist with a jump rope. A doll wrapped in white towels represented the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.

They were so little; and yet they understood the true significance of the day and played it out so lovingly for their dad and me.

All grown up now, they have taught the true meaning of Christmas to their children as well. We all still sing Happy Birthday Jesus on Christmas Day, celebrating Him as the reason for the season.

What a joy are memories of significant Christmases past that still bring smiles to our lips and tears to our eyes.

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The Christmas Pageant

It was our first Christmas in our first real house. The children were 7, 4 and 3—quite a handful, and so full of the Christmas spirit.

As the oldest, she played the key role of the Virgin Mary, dressed in one of my frilly white nightgowns. Her sister, complete with aluminum foil halo, was an angel holding a wooden spoon no doubt representing something angelic. Their toddler brother was a shepherd dressed in brown towel tied at the waist with a jump rope. A doll wrapped in white towels represented the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.

They were so little; and yet they understood the true significance of the day and played it out so lovingly for their dad and me.

All grown up now, they have taught the true meaning of Christmas to their children as well. We all still sing “Happy Birthday Jesus” on Christmas Day, celebrating Him as the reason for the season.

What a joy are memories of significant Christmases past that still bring smiles to our lips and tears to our eyes.

Show #467

Best Christmas Gift

Back Story

You probably start Christmas shopping in October, like my friend Susan. Her gifts are wrapped, labeled and stored long before most people. She is really good at selecting just the right present. Wouldn’t it feel good if something you choose for someone this year wound up being the best gift they ever had?

Best Christmas Gift

What’s the BEST Christmas gift you ever received? Think about it. What pops right into your mind? I’ll bet it’s not the most expensive gift you ever got. It’s probably the one most lovingly selected by someone who knows you very, very well and contributes regularly to your happiness.

Sometimes, a gift provides an unexpected pleasure. I remember receiving a green imitation leather shoulder bag from an aunt. It was full lady size, even though my age had not yet hit double digits.

To me, it was the symbol of being grown up. And obviously my aunt had RECOGNIZED how grown up I was, to give me such a sophisticated – and big – purse. I dragged half of my childhood treasures around with me in that purse, so everyone could see this recognition of my new, grown up stature in life.

I have to wonder whether my aunt ever had even an inkling of how important that gift was to me, or why. Probably not. I now wish I had told her about it, somewhere along the way.

Think about your favorite gift and what it symbolized for you. If you still can, call the person who gave it to you and tell them. What a delight it would be to hear from you with that kind of thanks. This is the season for it.

Enjoy the holidays and each other.

P.S. Books are always a welcome gift. Sometimes they open new doors, inspire or at very least, entertain. The Christmas book I wrote a couple of years ago is chuck full of Consider This stories from Christmases over the last 15 years. It can be purchased on Amazon. This link will take you right to it – Christmas Joy, Love, and Wonder by Annette Petrick

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Christmas Cards

Backstory

Christmas Cards

Do you send Christmas cards? Lots of people no longer do. It may not be in their budget . . . or they don’t have the time . . . or they have not kept up with the physical addresses of friends and family, because they stay in touch on Facebook or through email.

Personally, I still send greeting cards. If you receive one from me, know it was selected especially for you. I don’t buy a box of all the same cards and just dole them out. Families with children get a card with Santa or a snowman or a happy feel. Mature adults may get a vintage scene. Religious recipients will probably bear a nativity scene. Cards to my Jewish or Arabic friends will wish happy holidays rather than Merry Christmas.

I begin the card-sending process, the day after Thanksgiving, making sure my list is up to date, selecting each card for each person or family, and writing a personal message in each.

For some folks, there may be one of those Christmas letters that some folks dread and others cherish. They only go to those I think would want to know what the last 365 days have brought to my life. My letters will be heavy on the good news, light on the stuff that sucks. If you receive one, I hope you enjoy it or at least put up with me connecting the dots of the last year.

Merry Christmas.

[Show #519]

My Christmas Wish for You

Backstory

Black Friday is history. Holiday happy time begins. And somehow, time starts to disappear. There are so many things to do, places to go and promises to keep. The lists get longer and the schedules bunch up.

Try something new, this year. Delete some stuff from your list. Leave time to take in the miracles that occur during this special time. They’re all around you. You might even create some of your own.

To set the tone, here are a few ideas and some wishes.

My Christmas Wish for You

As the Christmas holiday season approaches, I have a special wish for you.

May your days be spent making others feel good and may you receive in kind.
May you have a special Christmas project that puts to work one of the many gifts that have been conferred on you.
What is it that you do well? Knit . . . sew . . . play the piano or the tuba . . . fix things . . . raise money . . . talk comfortably with strangers . . . share your ideas through words, spoken or written?
Whatever your gift in life, may you have the opportunity to use it, to make the world a better place – in a large way, or a very small one. It all counts.
When you get home from shopping, may you have a warm welcome – from family, spouse, partner or a furry friend who loves you.
May you have an invitation to share a Christmas meal with others. And if you have no one, may you volunteer to work the holiday so someone with a family can spend the day home with them.
May you spread your love through your smile and your kindness and patience during this hectic Christmas season.
And when all is said and done, may you feel the true spirit of Christmas – peace on earth, or at least in your personal world, good will to men, and women too.

Merry Christmas

P.S. My mom, my husband and I attended Christmas Mass at the cathedral in Washington, DC. As we were walking back to the car, we passed the church hall where hundreds of Christmas dinners were being served – and they were short of volunteer staffers. We looked at each other and wordlessly decided – our Christmas dinner at home would have to wait.

Hubby and I spent the entire afternoon serving, cleaning up and meeting some wonderful people who were not spending Christmas day alone, thanks to this event. Mom? She became the instantaneous official hostess, visiting every table where she shared good cheer and smiles. What a happy Christmas we had.

[Show #518]

Christmas Sermon

The young pastor was pacing. He was totally perplexed. Here it was Christmas Eve and he had no sermon for the midnight service. People would come to the church full of Christmas cheer. They would expect to be inspired and he lacked inspiration. He was so tired of the commercial aspects of Christmas that he feared the real meaning of the season was being lost forever.

He wandered by the life-size nativity scene outside the church and noticed a brightly wrapped gift package by the manger. Curious, he reached out and opened it. Inside he found a pair of tiny baby booties and a card. It read, “This is a birthday present to keep your baby feet warm. Happy Birthday, Jesus.” It was signed, Cheryl, age 4.

The pastor smiled. He could envision young parents teaching their child the true meaning of Christmas in a way that she could understand.

That night, he read the card and based his sermon on it. The card became the core of his sermon every Christmas Eve.

Fifty years later, two elderly parishioners smiled at each other as they listened to the story yet again. Cheryl’s parents had heard it every year. They both agreed that to have inspired this Christmas message over all of these years was the best Christmas gift they ever had.

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