This last Sunday was St. Martin's annual Christmas pageant. The pageant is one of my favourite worship services of the year, but there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. I thought that I'd let you in for a peak!
Since I've been at St. Martin's I've written a Christmas play every year for the children to perform. This year I was feeling a bit stuck for a theme, so at the Messy Church on November 21 I asked for some help. Ally Pawlovich had come up with the idea for last year's play, "What Does Santa Have to Do with Christmas Anyhow?" She suggested an Elf on the Shelf play and an idea was born!
After I got the idea, I sketched out the plot: an elf thinks that Christmas is all about being good and getting toys but finds out the true meaning of Christmas is unconditional love. On Sunday, November 25, I asked the children who were at Wild Goose Club if they liked the story and what parts they might like to play. The kids liked the story. I got volunteers to be narrators, elves, Santa, reindeer and kids who were being watched by the Elf on the Shelf. So now I knew who the characters in the play would be!
By the way, because we have two services that meant that there was going to be two plays with two casts of characters. We are fortunate to have enough children to have different casts at each service. I also asked the children if they had Elves on the Shelf at their houses and was able to incorporate their elves' names into the play!
The next week I wrote the play with the help of a container full of candy canes. I always find sugar helps my writing process! On December 2, I handed out scripts to the children and we read through their parts. I had some different children present on this Sunday and so was able to find someone for all the speaking roles. This was our only practice!
The next week I spent making sure we had costumes and a backdrop for the play and planning the rest of the service for December 9. It took some time to get children, youth and families for Advent Candle lighting, scripture reading and peace candle lighting. Thank you to those who stepped in at the last minute!
On December 9 we put on the two plays. The plays at the 9:30 a.m. service and the 11:00 a.m. service were quite different, even with the same dialogue. At the 9:30 a.m. service there were younger children and so there were a number of children who played the parts of reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh. In the 11:00 a.m. service there were no reindeer and Santa didn't have a sleigh. At the 9:30 a.m. service the narrators took turns reading the Elf on the Shelf parts. At the 11:00 a.m. service we had a performer reading the Elf's part and acting it out. The plays were different but both were appreciated. I am most glad that so many children had an opportunity to participate.
If you are interested in seeing the 11:00 a.m. play, click here.
Thanks to all those who helped with the service on Dec. 9th. It was great fun! See you next year.
