Baby Jesus in a Onesey
A few more hours, and the big day is
here.
Merry Christmas to all, whether it be Kwanza or
Hanukkah or the celebration or not of your
choice.
I heard a report the other day that 78% of
Americans still believed in the traditional Christmas. Of the remaining 22%, 8%
believed in nothing.
I was glad to hear the 78% figure for given all
the hue and cry in the media, Christmas is on the way out. And that would be
such a shame for there is nothing to my way of thinking any more precious to a
parent than the excitement and anticipation twinkling in his child’s eyes as he
hears the Christmas story and looks upon his presents under the tree. And how do
you measure the joy in his face when he tears into his
presents?
The weeks leading up the day of Jesus’s birth
have always taken on something special to me. I can’t explain it except that it
seems as if everything about us is a little more hopeful, a tad more promising,
and bit more happy. Maybe it is all in my imagination, but I don’t think so. I
like to think it is the inherent goodwill in mankind making its way to the
surface after months of wear and tear we’ve endured living the ‘normal’
life.
Churches around us help stimulate the feeling
just like the children’s play last week at Proctor Street
Baptist.
The play wasn’t the typical Christmas story, not
exactly.
Entitled ‘O Little Christmas Town,’ it was a
musical with a subplot of the community trying to decide whether they wanted to
let their town grow larger or keep it small. The discussion was moderated by a
character named ‘Mrs. Talkalot’ who was played by Anna
Licatino.
The youngsters did a fine job. The three
citizens were Raegan Graves, Vivien Thames, and Keegan Johnstone, the latter who
happens to be my grandson. Darrell Marsh played the Inn Keeper, Alyssa Licatino
was Ima Gossip, and Ross Marsh played the
shepherd.
The townspeople were Logan Chapa, Ayden
Licatino, Caylee Licatino, and Mikey Wood. Mikey is also my grandson. Ayden and
Caylee also played the angels in the next
scene.
During the community discussion, word came of
baby Jesus.
The players left the stage, and then here came
Joseph and Mary with baby Jesus in her arms. Baby Jesus was played by the world
acclaimed actor, Noah Wood, who incidentally happens to by my little
five-month-old grandson. Mary was his sister, Hannah Wood, who was a perfect
Mary. Eric Bankston was an excellent Joseph.
Little Noah’s whole family, both sides, was
sitting on the second and third rows, holding its collective
breaths.
Decked out in his striped onesey, an infant
sleeping type garment, he did fine, no crying, no tantrums; he just lay quietly
in his sister’s arms staring out as the hundreds of eyes watching him. He was
perfectly content as long as Mary kept feeding him his
pacifier.
Now, there were couple spots that didn’t fit in
that time frame, but I’m sure the fact that baby Jesus was wearing a striped
onesy instead of swaddling clothes, and was nursing on a pacifier did not
detract from the story.
The only grandchild not in the play was my
younger granddaughter, two-year-old Kenli-bug. She’s a little fireball. She
would have been all over the place, even inspecting the star on the tree.
Fortunately, she was quite content back in the nursery drawing Christmas trees
and making decorations.
The little production was very enjoyable, and
fortunately, my two grandsons, To our relief, Mikey and Keegan, didn’t stumble
over their long robes or fall down the
steps.
Now, I might be mistaken here, but after the
service when we went to the nursery to see Kenli, I could have sworn I saw the
nursery attendant breathe a sigh of relief when my wife and I walked into the
room.
Thanks, Proctor Street. I have a feeling that if
the other 22% who don’t believe in Christmas had seen the little play, some of
them might have given their beliefs a second
thought.
