Sunday, December 21, 2008

A story that is the same in any language

Koji, like Issei before him, goes to a Protestant daycare. Like all other churches the world over, the kids perform the Christmas Story every year....to a standing-room-only crowd of parents, grandparents, siblings and friends.


At Yuai, only the older kids are in the performance....the 3-and 4-year-olds are "stars" or "sheep" and each group will have one song to sing.
The 4-and 5-year-olds are the shepherds (singing a song as a group), Roman soldiers, or the owners of the inns.
The 5-and 6-year-olds are the main characters....this year Koji was one of the three Shepherds. All of these kids have speaking parts AND they sing solos...some parts are longer than others, but that doesn't matter.
The show is wonderful!!


I think that what I like most about a Christmas Pageant is this....so many times I'll say something or tell a story and someone in my class will say "Oh we say something kind of like that in Japanese." or "There's a similar story in Japan."


But....this story....the Christmas Story...is exactly the same in any language.

The songs? Same.


At Yuai, there are also a few new ones they have put into the story.
(And by "new ones" I mean "songs included within the last 16 years that are new to me", because that's how long it has been since I've been "home" for the holidays and seen a pageant in English!)
So, I give you now a 'picture slide show in movie form"
(because I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how the heck to download a slide show from Picasa onto the blog...grrrrr. Anyone willing to give "helpful hints" to the incredibly blond author of this blog suffering from a serious case of memory loss, will gain the love and affection of said author for a really long time..or for as long as she remembers!!)



And just in case you were wondering how Koji did on his song....here's a little extra. I didn't realize that he was going to sing at that exact moment and my camera wasn't ready so I missed the first part. Crap. (I hope it uploaded okay. Let me know if it didn't. Thanks.)

We could almost title this, "The Shepherd with a scratchy leg"......but we won't.

I wish you a day of songs sung by children and warm feelings in your heart that make you smile all day long!

13 comments:

Hula Girl at Heart said...

So cute!! I love kids' programs. At least he wasn't scratching something else like little boys often do. LOL. Sorry I haven't been by much lately. I've been swamped! Merry Christmas!

Janet said...

LOL oh the alternative title is so funny :-)

smalltownme said...

I couldn't view the youtube one, but the second one, with the scratching? It made my eyes tear up and my nose snuffle. What a precious moment. They totally grow up too fast!

smalltownme said...

Sweet!!!, the slide show is working now. My, you are a responsive blogger!

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL.

Merry Christmas!

Karen MEG said...

What a wonderful Christmas concert! Shepherd with a scratchy leg :).
For some reason our school doesn't do a holiday concert.. probably too many different faiths. Too bad, I love seeing the kids this time of year!

Anonymous said...

I loved, loved, loved seeing the christmas pageant - thanks for posting it!!!
kim

Ciara said...

Hey there

Thx for posting that, it was sooooo cute, what a great job he did. It made me feel a bit Christmasy finally, its summer here so doesn't feel the same when its 28oC. :o)
Ciara

Gina said...

That was beautiful. I'm all teary now. Thank you for sharing it with this old lady who doesn't have any little kids anymore. (sniff)

just jamie said...

Oh man, that is so darn cute! I always get teary at kids' performances.

Minnesota Matron said...

Ah, the Matronly heart! Is warmed.

stephanie said...

Of course the shepherd would have a scratchy leg, being around all that wool...heh.

Adorable, thank you. I do find that children singing will always move me to tears, but especially at Christmastime.

Debra Owen said...

Debbie--lovely lovely lovely! I love these photos! Sorry! I've only done the Picasa thing a couple of times... I love these photos, and your son is sooo cute! The youtube one was fine for me!

Sojourner said...

You got some cute boys there, missy! Loved the video and slide show. Merry, Merry Christmas. I am sitting here waiting, anxiously for my brother and his family who are driving to Nebraska from New Hampshire. They should be here soon!