At rehearsal, Baby Jesus nailed his role, so Emily was given the option of being an angel or lamb. While we first chose to stand with the angels, it was clear there was serious competition to be the cutest angel at church. Almost every little girl aged 9 through 1 were suiting up to be angels, elbowing each other out of the way to get closest to the manger.
So we walked over to where the shepherds gathered. There were 9-10 little boys and a few girls all waiting to be shepherds. Some taking their shepherding duties more seriously than others. However, they only had one donkey and one lamb to watch over. So, being an expert at making sheep noises, Emily seemed perfectly suited to play a lamb. At practice, she would walk up to the manger, point and BAAA at the baby so we figured we had this part nailed.
Until it was time to leave for church this morning. Meltdown city!
The very cranky lamb was not at all interested in going and looking at the baby. She cried about 15 minutes before leaving the house.
Once we arrived and put our lamb hat on, she began to warm up to this whole pageant thing. We even brought her lamb puppet along, since St. Alban's was experiencing a major lamb shortage this year.
After they all came in, Em had zero interest in looking at the baby. The angels were all in the way anyway. The other lamb had run back to his father. Emily is looking at Mommy, as I'm frantically whispering "STAY THERE!!! GO SEE THE BABY! WHERE IS THE BABY?"
Instead she parked herself right up in front. Sat. Posed for pictures. Danced as the congregation sang.
As the "director" of the play kept saying, "She stole the show!"
When it was all done, she got her well-deserved cookie and donuts as we greeting her adoring fans. "No autographs, people. I'm eating here."
2 comments:
What a ham! She's not your daughter or anything Beth!
Hi Beth. I am a friend of your in-laws. Your presentation of the story was delightful. You have a way with words. The whole thing was adorable. Joan Melewski
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