A "PROPER" NATIVITY!

I’m later than usual posting my Blip today, because I was invited to a Nativity Play that the daughter of a friend of mine was taking part in, so thought I would wait and see whether I could get some shots of that.  Little M has asked if I would like to be her Grandma - so after a break of many years, I know have some Grandmotherly duties to perform, and this was one of them.

I realised that because of safeguarding issues, and it’s very important not to contravene these, that there would be no “faces” in the shots, but then my friend sent the one of me wearing M’s donkey hat, so having got her permission, you can see me at the bottom right.  I’m certainly not doing it justice and it looks much better on M, with her gorgeous blonde hair and she was definitely a very good donkey!

The whole play was very well done, with the set having been made and painted by the staff and the stars were all made by the children.  The singing was excellent and it was actually a “proper” Nativity, which seems to be quite rare these days.  There were certainly no cartoon or questionable characters in the play and most of the children played their parts very well.  One little angel, who had a wonderful costume, spent most of her time trying to keep her halo in place so missed singing one of the songs.  Apparently, the parents had to provide their own costumes and there wasn't a tea towel in sight - for those who are much older, you will understand what I mean!

It never ceases to amaze me how the children learn about 7 or 8 different songs, when most of them are only 4 or 5 years old.  The narrators were particularly good - they had a lot to say and remembered all their lines, which they obviously had to learn because at that age, they can’t read much.

Of course, there were lots of waves to the Mothers, Fathers and Grandparents, and one of the shepherds was throwing his sheep up in their air and catching it and then having a conversation with his parents rather than singing but that didn’t detract from the play at all.

I guess that’s all part and parcel of taking part in your first Nativity play - it was just a shame that certain people forgot to switch off their phones or put them on silent!

The one thing that did make me laugh was when the Three Kings came in bearing their gifts - the first one presented his by saying “I bring gold”, then the second managed the words “I bring frankincense” and did it very well - it’s a long word for a very young child - but the one presenting myrrh just came in and threw it down, without saying anything - I guess he had had enough by then!  The fire at the bottom left, where the shepherds had been warming themselves, had flames and logs and the gold that one of the Kings had brought was there too.

All in all, a lovely afternoon and surprisingly, after the play had finished and just before we left, M’s teacher came up to us and asked if we had any constructive criticism about the play and whether there was anything they could have done better.  We said it was very well done, but felt that the head teacher, who spoke at the beginning about the safeguarding needed a microphone and also people needed to be reminded about turning their phones off or on silent.

So much work goes into these plays;  the teachers and helpers did a wonderful job of making sure the children were in the right place at the right time and it was good to see the children enjoying themselves.

When I left M and her Mum - I was asked if I wanted to go back to their house and have a sleepover, but I told M that Mr. HCB would wonder where I was if I didn’t go home, and although she looked a little disappointed, she quickly said that he could come too as she had a big bed!  The innocence of children is so beautiful!