So the big event at Palau SDA Elementary last week was the Christmas
play, which took place on Thursday the 8th.
Christmas plays are a lot of fun, but it takes a lot of work and
involves a lot of stress to pull them together!
So many things to do and think about, so many problems to work through.
For weeks the teachers and students were practicing their
songs. The last two weeks were filled
with rehearsals of presentations, processions, and parts. For months the Christmas play committee had
been figuring out an action plan for the annual performance. After some research, the play “Starry Night,
Noisy Night” was chosen to reproduce at the school. It is a short, sweet version of the Christmas
story as told from the viewpoint of some animals (who have names like
Cowcophany, Moozicowity, Clip-Clop, etc.).
There were auditions for the roles, and a variety of students from
kindergarten to 8th grade were picked for the starring characters
and the non-speaking roles of Mary, Joseph, and the kings (and the camel, which
is acted out by three kindergarten students who play the parts of hump #1, hump
#2, and the head). The costumes were
thrown together from felt, shirts, paint, glue, and cotton balls (I had the
responsibility of gluing cotton to shirts for the sheep—thankfully Ms. Cynthia
and some girls from the dorm at PMA helped out).
It was a lot of work, especially for the teachers who were
putting it all together (primarily Ms. A, Ms. Gatica, and Ms. K). By the time the day for the play came, a lot
of us were ready for it to be over. In
practice the kids sometimes sang their songs well, and sometimes they didn’t. There were going to be video clips
highlighting each grade, so that involved a lot of editing and cooperation from
the computer and sound systems. The day
before the play, it seemed like everyone was practicing, preparing, psyching up
their classes for the big event.
And finally it came.
The students wore different colored shirts by grade (red, green, or
white), and many wore Christmas hats (including ones that lighted up). The parents arrived from all directions and
filled up the seats in the gym—many had to sit or stand on the edges. There were people swarming everywhere, from
toddlers to grandparents, and every age in between. It was a hot, sticky night, and seemed very
unseasonal for having a Christmas play—but that’s the way half the world
experiences the Christmas season. Some
people wore shorts and t-shirts, and some wore long sleeves.
Then it was time for the performances. Kindergarten and 1st grade did “Go
Tell it on the Mountain” with hand motions.
2nd grade did a complicated song called “Christmas Alphabet”
that involved marching, kneeling, lying down, rolling over, standing up…all
with books in hand. 3rd grade
might have been the most impressive—they did hand motions to the song “O Holy
Night” with white gloves and a black light so that you could see the words and
pictures they were making with their hands.
That got some oohs and ahhs from the audience. 4th and 5th grade did a
modified version of “Sleigh Ride” with lyrics more suited to an island
Christmas. 6th grade did a
bell choir song. 7th grade
did a Christmas song from the Philippines.
And 8th grade did a song called, “Christmas in the Sand,”
with ukuleles and leis. Everyone did a
good job.
After that was the short Christmas play. At least half of it was singing, so the whole
school became a choir sitting on the bleachers (in their red, white, and green
shirts) and stood up to sing whenever a scene finished in the play. They sang really well, which made all the
practice worth it. There was also an
amazing little girl from 1st grade who sang a short solo: “Open our eyes, that we might see/the blessing
of Your nativity/Open our eyes, open our ears/Let every distraction disappear”. Of
course, I could see glitches—the sound system didn’t function perfectly, and
some choir and presentation songs went more smoothly and were more clear than
others. It was hard to really watch the
play because as teachers, our job was to direct our students and give them cues
about singing. There was a whole row of
teachers in front of the younger grades coaching them and motioning when to
stand up and sit down. It was also hard
to see the play from an outside viewpoint, since I had seen it and heard it
rehearsed so many times and knew all the behind-the-scenes work that went into
it. Did the parents think it was too
long? Were they upset about the sound
system giving out a few times during the videos? (You might be too if your kid was speaking on
screen just when it glitched.)
But the next day, Mr. Nelson the principal told us that many
people (parents and local staff) considered it to be one of the best Christmas
plays in a long time. Maybe because it
was different, with the videos and performances. It was also pretty smooth, and it was well
put-together. (Congratulations to Ms. A
and Ms. K and Ms. Gatica and Ms. Gina and everyone else who planned and worked
on it). So all in all, it was a
success. Now the teachers can relax
until the Creativity Fair in a few months…or at least they can focus on the
other work they have to do. I was glad
it was over. No more worrying about the
costumes and whether the students would sing loudly enough or know the words…
But now that I stop to think about it, I wish I had focused
more on the message of the performance rather than the mundane details. The play, as I said, was short and
simple. In the story, the animals were
excited because of all the commotion in Bethlehem, and they were busy with
their little animal lives. But gradually
they began to realize that something even more meaningful was happening right
in front of them—Jesus was being born in the stable next door. The message was that instead of being wrapped
up in our social lives and electronics and entertainment, we should take time
to consider the deeper, more significant matters. We should look more closely at the things
that we know are important, and we should look more broadly at the bigger
picture instead of just focusing on the trivial and self-centered pursuits we
tend to get caught up in. It’s easy to
push spiritual things aside when we think we “know it already” or can focus on
it another time when we’re not so busy.
Sometimes we just need to take a few moments, or longer, to
really think about what is important. As
I’m writing this, I’m writing to myself, because I think I missed the bigger
picture of the play. The little details
like the costumes and where students stand are necessary and we can’t do
without them. But they’re not the
goal. The purpose wasn’t for everyone to
hit the right notes and stand in the right places at the right times. It was to help us lift our minds higher, and
to see something more meaningful than the temporary things we spend so much
time on.
“But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her
heart” (Luke 2:19)
So Hillary, don’t be afraid to spend some time actually
thinking about the things that really matter, and pondering them in your heart. The little jobs will get done if you have
your eyes fixed on the goal and you don’t give up.
