Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Last Sunday of Advent

I have lost track of how many times we've gone round with this icky bug now. Enough already.


After weeks of rehearsals of the church play, yesterday morning was the last practice before today's performance, and Katie wasn't feeling very well. We told her that she had to go, and that she'd feel better once she got going. Well, she was a trooper and didn't whine, but she didn't feel better either. By late afternoon, she had a fever of 102.7, and we realized that the show might just have to go on without the Cute Little Girl. This morning she was still hot enough to fry eggs on and throwing up, so Ed and Travis had to go off to church without us. By the time they'd been gone an hour, Katie was up and feeling fairly perky. We read a couple chapters of The Secret Garden, found stuff in I Spy, and learned to play "jacks." Apparently this was too much, though, and by 2:00 Katie was warm again and had rings under her eyes, so back she went to the couch. I think she will be well, or at least mostly well, by tomorrow.


The church play was a success, even with out Katie. Ed brought Travis's camera and took some Very Wobbly videos. I am not going to post them because they are very grainy and swoop around so much they would make you queasy, but at least they assured me that Travis acquitted himself admirably and that the congregation appreciated the play. It was a rather strange play, about a poor family whose church decides to raise money for an unnamed "family in need." The poor family, with great effort, raises twenty dollars, and the rest of the congregation contributes $2.78. On Christmas day, the pastor shows up at the poor family's house, and they are horrified and embarrassed to learn that they were the family in need, and they also can't help noticing that the other members of their congregation are awful cheapskates. The play ends with the poor family heading off to pass the money, plus their own dinner of beans and cornbread, on to an even poorer family down the road, who will, we presume, also be offended by this unasked for gift. As I said, it was a very odd play, but I told the kids that maybe next year, having gratified someone's urge for novelty, we will have a nice traditional pageant. The important thing is that Travis said his lines well and resisted the urge (which overpowered him during every practice) to improvise.


This picture shows the kids in their acolyte robes (which they didn't wear for the play, of course). The picture was very grainy so I made the background sepia in order to make the kids stand out, but, just so you know, the alter rail is not really two tone.

2 comments:

Elisheva Hannah Levin said...

My goodness, that is one persistent flu bug! I hope Katie feels better in time for the holiday.

That does sound like a strange Christmas play. I always enjoyed watching friends and neighbors children in the more typical Christmas pageants, complete with little shepherds, angels and animals. But I am glad the other kids did alright. Happy holiday.

melissa said...

I love the picture! I am sorry that Katie didn't get to be in the play. I know that's a bummer for her. I hope that she's feeling right as rain tomorrow. And let's hope that's the end of the awful flu for y'all,shall we? ANd call me old fashioned but I'm with you on the more traditional Christmas plays.