The Best Christmas Pageant ever!

Another reference to one of my favorite books, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" by Barbara Robinson. In the beginning of December we had a FHE lesson about tradition. We asked the kids to list some family traditions that they would like to start now, and do every year. We reminded them to keep in mind ideas that would be good even when they got older and had children of their own. I envisioned cozy Christmas eve festivities with all of my children and grandchildren around me and lots of photo ops. perfect memories that would last forever. Well...we at least decided on one for now. A Christmas Pageant or Nativity. Some of the other suggestions were....

* Snowboarding (Jake)
* Skiing (Jake)
* Opening 1 present each day of December (Jake)

* The lights at Temple Square on Christmas eve (Hannah)
* Opening all of our presents on Christmas eve (Hannah)
* Don't care as long as there is food (Hannah)

* Ending the discussion about traditions (Kenz)

And so, on Christmas eve, (after the good food) we asked the kids to go and find costumes and props for the Nativity. They could decide what characters they wanted to play. We ended up with: One Joseph who wore a bath towel turban and insisted on being called "Habeeb". One very sweet Mary holding baby Jesus. Hannah was thrilled to play the part and taking the whole thing VERY SERIOUSLY! And one sheep with a white fleece blanket drawn over her whole body for a costume. McKenzie was not thrilled to be participating, and refused to even uncover her face.

So here is the scene......Jacob was speaking in a Middle Eastern accent, asking everyone to call him Habeeb, and being obnoxious in general. McKenzie crawling all over the house in her "sheep costume", bumping into the walls and the tree, and making the dogs go berserk. Hannah was acting irritated by the big kids because she was trying so hard to be serious and play her role well. After a good 15 minutes of mayhem, Dad managed to finish reading the scripture passages. At his point the big kids were completely out of control, the dogs were barking, Hannah was crying, and mom was swearing.

Our first attempt at The Best Christmas Ever ended with the kids telling me that they would always remember that I swore at them during our first ever family nativity. Of course that's all they'll remember. Ahhhh well......almost perfect, but not quite!