Christmas Program

The boys were in our church's Christmas program this week.  The little kids sang some songs and Travis group acted out the nativity story, and the bigger kids did a skit about the 12 Days of Christmas song.  They have been practicing for several weeks and I got glowing reports of Justin's practice performance, so I was really excited to see how he did.  We didn't practice the songs at home because I knew he couldn't really sing them anyway, and he picked up the tunes very quickly.  He was swaying and rocking with all of them!  He did very well with the motions when he was standing up, but he did spend a good portion of the performance sitting down.  He was super cute either way!  He fit in with all the kids.  They alternated between singing and doing the motions and:

picking their noses...

...whispering to each other...

...and checking out what their neighbors were doing.

It was precious!  The cheering always seems to be the loudest for the littlest kids.  And the smiles are the biggest.  The kids even bowed at the end.  Loved it!

Then it was Travis' turn.  He was a shepherd.  Those are their sheep in front.  That's the angel making her way up on the stage to give them the good news of Jesus' birth, and the rest of the "heavenly host" coming to join her in a minute.

Travis did a good job of acting very frightened.  He knew exactly what to do and he made sure the rest of the shepherds didn't go see Jesus until it was their cue. 

I think those were the animals in front of the manger.  They were fairly disinterested, but really cute!

After the story, they sang Away in a Manger.  They did a great job singing loudly and doing the appropriate motions.  Travis practiced a long time to learn the first two verses.  He really enjoyed doing the program!

The "after" pictures of Travis, Justin and out friends Clara and Robert.  Clara was the angel who brought the good news to the shepherds.  Robert was the cheering brother in the audience.

After the show, there was soup for dinner and crafts for the kids.  Plus, Santa made a visit to hand out candy canes and listen to Christmas wishes.  This was our only Santa picture of the season. I was slightly uninspired this year.  Randy's parents took the boys to Bass Pro Shop earlier this month and got pictures with their Santa, and a large elk and various other woodland creatures in the background.  Very cute!

It was a good evening and we all had lots of fun.  It's always great when our church family spends time together.  And celebrating Jesus' birth and the holiday season is a wonderful reason.