Mountain Miller Christmas Pageant 2020

 I feel acting out a Christmas Pageant is an important part of learning the story of the Nativity for children raised in the church and in a Christ-centered faith.  This year, due to COVID, there were no options for my children to participate in a pageant through a local church or organization...

Well, we have five children, and I have a little experience directing a past Christmas pageant, and my Hubby is tech-savvy... so we have spent these past few weeks putting on our own Christmas Pageant.  

Please enjoy our The Nativity Story by the Mountain Millers (Bloopers at the end):

Lessons learned from our Mountain Miller Christmas Pageant 2020:

1. Tracey makes a good actress... an even better director
2. Lee Lee will not be signed up for acting classes any time soon
3. Have fruit snacks on hand to bribe Lee Lee and Hunter

Chistmas Pageant 2018

25 Children

 ...

15 kids

6 youth

4 toddlers

10 adult volunteers

 ...

sets

lights

costumes

props

music

blocking

choreography

...

and a partridge in a pear tree.

This year's Christmas pageant went off without a hitch and it was a lot of work, but it was so incredibly worth it!

Merry Christmas!

A Star

There's a star in the East...

 

1000 Words

1000 Words

 

Practicing

Our kiddos are in our church Christmas pageant... and, oh yes, I am directing our church Christmas pageant, so we are practicing, practicing, practicing all the time these days.

Here are the hand motions for Away In The Manger... and this is my test to see if these pictures would work as a hand-out for toddler parents so they can practice the song and hand motions with their toddlers at home.

Away in a manger

No crib for a bed

the little Lord Jesus

lay down His sweet head

the stars in the sky

look down where He lay

the little Lord Jesus

asleep on the hay.

 

Name Spellings

At the first Christmas Pageant practice yesterday, I was writing down all the children's names and ages so we could assign roles.

Me:  What's your name?

Six-year-old Boy:  Kayden

Me:  Is that C-A-D-E-N

Six-year-old Boy:  No.  K-A-Y-D-E-N

Me:  Wow.  I wasn't even close.

Kayden:  Gee.  My sister is 4 and even she knows how to spell my name. j

We're off to a great start.

10 On 10

10 Pictures on the 10th

Or... in my case, 15 pictures on the 10th.

Workout almost every morning... and I always send a picture of the workout to my mom.  She's a great cheerleader and accountability partner.

I actually didn't remember it was the 10th of the month until I saw my Timehop... which was full of pictures taken throughout the day on the 10th.  So, this picture was taken right before naptime.

Tracey insisted on tucking her siblings in for naptime, giving them hugs and kisses, and telling them a story before they fell asleep.

Overflowing laundry...

Two of my PEO sisters came over in the morning for us to plan our group's Christmas party.  I kept trying to take notes and then had to run and take care of something with the children.  Thankfully, one of my sisters took notes the whole time, and they were both so understanding of my running in and out of the discussion.

I spent naptime cleaning off my desk.  I briefly looked back to see if I could find a "before" picture with the cluttered desk in the background, but I couldn't.  It was stacked very high with papers... and many odds and ends.

Apparently, my desk is where I was keeping all of these magazines, I really hope to read eventually.  Someday, I want to check into a spa and spend the weekend getting massages, taking baths, relaxing in a hot tub, putting my feet up and reading these magazines.

 

Tracey had some ipad time while the twins napped, and the twins took an unusually short nap.  I came upstairs at one point to find that the twins had awakened from their naps, and had cuddled up with Tracey to have some ipad time with her.  It was adorable.

Tracey took this picture.

Cheering for the Michigan game.  We beat Rutgers 42-7!

Trying to get a picture of Lee Lee's first ponytail.

My little Caroline... she loves loading the dishwasher.  Last night, it was while wearing a baby.  She kept getting the baby wet with the wet silverware, and saying, "No, no, Baby.  No touch Baby.  No get wet."

Our nativity scene stays up all year, but I added the lights yesterday.

I'm directing the children's Christmas Pageant at our church and was able to run to the church to search in the shed for costumes.  Jackpot!  I came home with two big bins... I haven't gone through them yet, but at least they have been located.

Here's a good picture of her adorable ponytail.

 What a great day.

 

God's Got Me

Well, welcome to today's episode of "A crazy view into the life of a sleep-deprived mother of four, but no need to worry, God's got me."

I am very excited for our children to be involved in the Christmas pageant at our church.  I know this church has a Christmas pageant, but we were not attending this church a year ago, so this will be our children's first year to have the opportunity to participate.

Our church is currently hiring a Director of Children's Ministry and the position has been vacant for four months... so as we creep close to the Holiday season, I have been getting very nervous that I've received no word about the Christmas pageant.

So, on Monday I contacted a friend who teacher Sunday school and asked if she knew if anything was in the works.  She said she has heard nothing.

So, I emailed the church office.  I greeted the secretary by name, I said how excited I was for our children to participate in the Christmas pageant and how I would love to help in any way I could.  Could she please share any planning details with me or let me know how I could help.

That was Monday.

I heard nothing back.

Finally on Friday I received a reply telling me that the church was not going to do a Christmas pageant this year but they would do a Christmas Eve service which would be open to the whole town of (she named a town 15 miles away).  She said there were no plans to have the children do any sort of show for the Christmas Eve service either, but thank you for the offer to help and she would save my information for the future.  Signed, a different name than the secretary I emailed.

I was really bummed for less than a minute to hear they weren't doing a Christmas Pageant.

Then I started connecting some dots.

Why would the Christmas Eve Service be for a town 15 miles away?

Why would a different secretary email me back.

Oh, well because I emailed the wrong church, that's why.

I emailed the church we were attending a year ago, a church that does not put on a Christmas pageant and has as much smaller Christmas program than the church where we currently attend (which is 1 mile from our house)

Both church offices have an email that starts with:

office@new....... .com

They are about the same length, but just a few letters different there in the middle.

I am incredibly glad that this church did not take me up on my offer to coordinate a Children's Christmas Pageant for the church where we no longer attend, 15 miles from our house.  I am a little worried about their saving my information but I haven't quite figured out how to explain the mix up and ask them to disregard my email.

All that being said, God's got me.

He knew where my incorrect email was sent -- and, Praise God, He did NOT put me in charge of a Christmas Pageant 15 miles away.

And, now that an email has been sent to the CORRECT church office, hopefully I can get some details in how to help with a Christmas Pageant that WILL happen this year at the church where we CURRENTLY attend, which is 1 mile from our house.

Oh my.  Thank you, Lord for having my back.  I clearly need it.