I went to this year's annual Christmas event armed with my camera... and made use of it.  :-)

This year's event involved not only the Celebration Choir's songs, but a theatrical review of the 'reason for the sesaon' by Curt Cloniger, who is a comedian from North Carolina; he performed segments of the events during the birth of Christ, with interesting points of view.

Pastor Jim started things off.  John, our genius of sound and lighting, rigged up a back curtain for a back drop while Curt did his skits... it worked perfectly.

Curt introduced himself to get things going.  he told a story about how a family celebrated the birth of their firstborn, and how much more powerful our celebration of Christ's birth should be.

The choir was spectacular.  I sang with them last year, but this year, my schedule was too packed, and I missed too many practices.

I felt badly that I couldn't be a part in it, but I must say that I enjoyed it from the audience!

The first skit was the Innkeeper, played as a gruff New York shopkeeper...

The skits really gave you the opportunity to take a look at the events in a different light, and caused you to ponder them a bit more than you might if it were done the traditional way.

I liked it.

The choir sang in between the skits, which gave Curt time to retool for the next character.

I remembered the songs from the practices I did make it too... which let me enjoy them a bit more, I think.

The older, wiser gentleman told the story of the Shepherds and the Angels singing...

Denny and Sharon sang a duet lead together, which sounded fantastic! 

I'm a tenor, supposedly, like he is, but I can't hold a stick in his general direction when it comes to singing...

This character was from the deep south, and worked for "Joe" as a carpenter, and was telling the story how these "real big fellers with fancy clothes" came up and gave Jesus "who we just called 'lil Josh" gifts and said things like "That there is God".

Makes you wonder what it really was like when they got there.  They had stopped by to see the King on the way to see Jesus... They asked Herod where the King of Kings was... and of course Herod didn't know (Matt 2)

The Shadow Lady sang for one of the musical interludes... They sounded great, and no, I'm not biased.  :-)

Curt then relayed one of the little-told parts of the Christmas Story: the killing of all the boys 2 years and under.

"I hope you know the pain of losing your son one day"... powerful stuff.

For a segment with Joseph talking to Jesus, and pondering what it would mean to be the earthly father of the Lord of Lords, Curt used a baby that he met only moments before he took him out on the stage...

It was if they had rehearsed it a hundred times...

The transitions, the lighting and the sound were handled by John and Ron... and they did a GREAT job.

Pastor Greg wrapped things up, and then invited us up for a piece of pie and hot chocolate...

Pastor Jim transitioned from leading the Choir to leading the Bell Ringers in a few carols... they sounded AWESOME!

Our friend Rick came, which was nice.  He lives near the church, and had heard them practicing since the middle of Summer.

It was a great evening pent with the members of the church family...

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