'Tis the Season to be Teary

Is there anything better than a children's Christmas program?

I don't think it is possible to walk out of something like that without a smile on your face. There is just too much entertainment!

My husband and I attended our two oldest children's Christmas program at church on Saturday afternoon. Prior to their debut, the preschoolers - now picture it...we're talking super cute 3 & 4 year olds - had their own little program of a handful of songs and actions.

Your eye naturally zooms in on the little girls in their adorable, frilly Christmas dresses. The velvety skirts and shimmery lace make you want to whip out your camera in haste...oh, wait a second. None of these kids is mine.

I put the camera down and enjoy the show.

And what a show it is. I applaude the mother who knew her daughter would be one to play with her fluffy dress and pull the skirt up, so she dressed her in a layered dress so the sweet girl only lifted the top toule layer. Whew...embarrassment evaded. Nicely done, Mom-of-fluffy-dress-girl.

But you can't overlook those dapper little boys, either. Vests, ties and sweaters that morphe them immediately into little men. And yet, you can take the boy out of the t-shirt and jeans, but you can't take the t-shirt and jeans attitude out of the boy. Even in their "Sunday best" they are poking at each other, grabbing ears and giving a good punch here and there.

They may be singing about the peacefulness of Christmas, but boys will be boys.

In this particular program, all the children were wearing shepherd head-dresses to go with the theme of their show. Albeit, cute. But not practical in every case.

By the time they got to the last song, there were a couple children whose headgear had gradually slid down over their eyes so they couldn't see a thing. Apparently they were told not to touch them because you didn't see them even attempt to adjust the slipping drape. What good, obedient little shepherds!

The problem with the headgear from my standpoint is that you can't always identify a child with one of those things on their head.

Case in point, a little boy in the back donning red and green plaid Christmas pants was a hoot to observe. My husband is pretty certain the kid was conducting a healing service in the back row as he had his hands gripped to the top of the boys heads next to him.

After the program, we came to discover those little plaid pants were sported by our very own nephew! It's good to know our attention was at least drawn to a relative!

Once those pretty little people marched off the risers, it was time for the 'big event.' Rachel and Caleb mosied on stage with the rest of the school-age kids and took their places.

I'm not sure what it is about seeing your offspring on stage, but for some odd reason pride wells up inside so strongly that it forces tears from my eyes. And they weren't even doing anything yet! They just walked in!!

The music they had practiced singing in the van for weeks had finally come to fruition. And it was awesome!

Incidentally, I don't know how the people who write these programs get their ideas, but they are incredible. Year after year they create such amazing entertainment. This ain't your Grandma's Christmas pageant of yesteryear, believe me. This is FUN stuff.

As the program comes to a close, it is time to present a live nativity...courtesy of the kindergarten class.

Which includes...

(gulp)

My son.

And here we go again. My little 'Joseph' steps into the stable and my eyes are too blurred from tears to tell if my camera shot is even in focus.

Am I proud? You bet.

But it's more than that.

It's the realization that my children aren't the size of Baby Jesus anymore and they can actually learn all the words to a bunch of songs.

And wear costumes.

And actually stand still. (Well, sort of.)

They're growing up and I know these Christmas program memories will be just that. Memories.

So I lift that camera again and start snapping pictures of my 'babies.'

Because that candy cane lawn ornament wrapped to resemble a shepherd's staff will only look like such for a short time - my son is growing and he will dwarf that staff in what will seem like no time at all.

*sigh*

Oh well. I'll always have pictures. And you can too. Check out my family blog at http://pmherr.blogspot.com/ for photos and video from this entertaining event!