On the First Day of Christmas. . .Break

I began my Christmas Break 2008 with a short but memorable pageant of Christ's birth. After a thirty-minute (it felt like an hour), bumpy mianbaoche across town, Suli and I climbed the stairs to a third-floor yoga center that had been transformed into a small theater with a low stage. Christmas decorations hung from every corner of the room, which seemed twice as big as it was because of a floor-to-ceiling mirror behind the stage. A six-foot, fake tree stood in one corner with even more decorations strewn through its plastic boughs. The entire scene was a bit gaudy.

However, in one corner of the room, a tiny cast of characters sat around two tables coloring in pictures of the Nativity. As I snapped pictures, these children seemed oblivious to the flash of my camera, which is rather strange in China. Usually when I pull out my camera, the children at least stare into the lens, a bit amazed at the possibility that they might be on film. On this day, their little heads remained hunched over their pictures, and their little hands continued to scribble away at their pictures.
After a brief announcement, the cast of this Christmas scene trouped in to the tune of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" played haltingly by an adult sitting behind an electric keyboard, looking a little like Schroeder from the comic strip "Peanuts". As the cast made its way onto the stage, poor little "Joseph", who had just brought his family all the way to Bethlehem for the census, tripped on his own hem and crashed onto the raised platform. Even so, when the happy couple gathered around the manger (see above) and abruptly placed the baby Jesus in his new crib, the feeling of peace on earth still remained.

Of course, no self-respecting Nativity could go without shepherds, and these three sheepishly joined the proud parents. One even hid behind her cutout sheep. It even felt a little like the stable must have, because, while it was relatively nice outside, the yoga study was down-right chilly. I am almost certain I could see my breath.

When the three sages from the East entered, this little wise-woman immediately caught my attention. Her crown looked more like a tiara from a Miss-Universe pageant, but when she and her cohorts began singing "The Virgin Mary had a Baby Boy", I could not help but think that maybe, just maybe, the original wise men did come from this part of the world.
Lastly, no Nativity would be complete without angels, and these children are truly angelic. Yes, their costumes made some of them look more like fairies, but in their tiny voices they still proclaimed the Word and sang like a "multitude of heavenly hosts". In all, the pageant was exactly what it was supposed to be: beautiful. It told the story (in English), even though each line had to be prompted by Suli's roommate Maria (from New Jersey). The parents of the children beamed, "Mary" pondered, "Joseph" struggled, the "shepherds" trembled, and the "angels" inspired. So, as the banner below states, "Shengdan kuai le!" Merry Christmas!