Taiwan Christmas Pageant 2009

It can be difficult to feel the Christmas spirit when you live in a place that doesn't really celebrate it. The warm weather -though glorious- throws me off too. I never thought that I would actually miss the commercialization of Christmas but I've realized that all of those decorations starting mmm, October 1st, really help with anticipation.

The Christmas Pageant our Ward and community does every year is something everyone seemed to look forward to so I was excited when the weekend finally came. The first two shows on Saturday I helped with the make-up, Nathan was a Wise Man and the children were in the children's choir.

The stage is elaborate and the costumes make everything seem more realistic. There is an adult choir, a children's choir and a choir of Missionaries who all get the chance to sing.

Below is Aly with Benji, he's in our Ward and a sorta famous local I guess you could say. He was in China's version of American Idol and made it into the top ten before he was "cut", as they wouldn't allow a foreigner to win. For the pageant he sang a song backed up by the children's choir.

Sunday's two shows Nathan and I played the part of Mary and Joseph. The part of the Donkey was played by an old horse (he's blind in one eye, it's clouded over white and Kohen has included the horse's eye in his prayers ever since) that I ride and Nathan walks us through the crowd on our journey to Bethlehem.

Since being seriously "heavy with child" is still quite fresh in my memory, it was very sobering to imagine how terribly uncomfortable riding a Donkey all day in that state must have been. Playing Mary was very humbling and as I rode up to the stage the realization of what she faced: no comforts, no home, no extended family to support, literally no where to have her baby- all hit me and I struggled very hard not to just start crying in sympathy. I figured a bawling Mary wasn't what they were looking for so instead I focused on the task at hand- getting off of the donkey/horse without letting my baby bump fall down or my gown come up to reveal my 21st century jean shorts underneath.

There is narration and the choirs sing as we enter and then I sit on the steps with the horse while Nathan goes around the stage trying to find a place for us to stay and as you know, he is turned away by everyone.

This picture ^ is Nathan coming back and telling me he couldn't find anywhere to stay. You may think the look on my face is primo acting but really all Nathan did to incite such emotion was tell me, "I'm sorry but you have to have your baby in Taiwan". All genuine from there.

There are Roman soldiers in the cast and singing angels in the sky, Shepherds, Wise men- it really is quite the production and the audience was overcrowded each performance which is great. In the picture above you can see the Saturday Mary and Joseph played by Ben and Sally- they did great.

Everyone wondered if we were going to use Ander as baby Jesus but the show is actually fairly long and though he has a great temperament even he has his moments and you could bet one would've been in the middle of the show. So some sweet women from the Ward snuggled him up during the performances and a doll was cast in the role instead. Thank goodness because the doll was about 12 lbs lighter. It was an incredibly crazy busy weekend but it was fun and really helped me to feel that ever elusive True Christmas Spirit, perhaps more than I ever have before.