Thursday 26 November 2009

Nativity

There's been a lot of hype recently about a new film being released called 'Nativity' and I am sure that we have all taken part in a Nativity play at school when we were young. I used to love watching Nativity plays when my kids were little and I am the embarrassing mum in tears as soon as the little angels arrive on stage and the shepherds can't sit still until they have found their mum in the audience. Someone is bound to tip the baby Jesus out of his cradle and you can always feel the anticipation in the air when Joseph knocks at the inn. Will the Innkeeper remember to say 'I'm sorry we have no room' or will he forget and change the whole storyline by inviting them in?
The only Nativity I remember being in was when I was about 10. My primary school decided to try something different that year. We had all been having French lessons (which was rather unusual in Primary school back in 1968) and our teacher decided to do the whole play in French. Pretty ambitious eh? Goodness knows what our parents thought, I'm sure they didn't understand a word of it, which could have been a blessing as I really don't think our accents were too authentic. I do remember my friend Susan Hutchin marching down the aisle of the hall towards the stage with the Kings trying to keep up with her while she was pointing up to an imaginary star in the sky and shouting 'Sweevie lay twarl' which was as close to 'suivez l'toile' as we were going to get.
I had the dubious honour of being the 2nd person on stage. Moira Payne was resplendent as Mary, dressed in a rather fetching pale blue tablecloth and I was purely angelic as the Angel Gabriel in a carefully draped white sheet. 'Je te salut Mary' is all I remember but I guess I must have then gone on to tell her she was expecting a baby. My moment in the spotlight over, I then took my place in the recorder group ready to accompany the choir in the only French carol I ever learnt 'Il est nee, le petit enfant'.
Does anyone else remember their first Nativity play?

7 comments:

Lizzie said...

What a great story! I don't remember being in a Nativity play myself, though I remember my little sister in one. I do remember a school Concert, when I was about 7, with the theme of Toytown. We all dressed as toys and did songs and dances. I was in the dance to "Sur Le Pont D'Avignon" (we also had French lessons in Primary school and I had a French form teacher at one point, who got us story books about "La Famille Lapin" and "Madame Souris".

My son was in his nursery nativity. They did their own take on that fab little book "Jesus' Christmas Party". He was the Grumpy Inn Keeper. My best memory is of him stomping down the stairs, throwing the door open and bellowing "What Now?!" It was Fab! I found a photo of it recently. Brought back some lovely memories.

I hope you find yourself a Nativity Play somewhere this Christmas. If not, try reading Jesus' Christmas Party. You'll laugh your socks off!

Amy said...

Our son was Joseph in his kinder nativity - I had to grin from ear to ear as he waved to the entire audience all through .... showbiz went to his head I think! We have a beautiful book by a well known Australian author - Mem Fox called 'Wombat Divine', it is a lovely Australian version of a nativity story - beautiful for the kids.

Rachel Brett said...

Great post Deb, I remember being an angel in my first Nativity when I was 4 years old. My DH was one of the three kings in the same play!

Sian said...

Brilliant story! The idea of it all being in French just made me laugh so much..don't you wish video cameras had been around? This is my first year without a Primary School nativity to go to and I'm a bit wistful about that.

Abi said...

Hi! Thanks so much for the comment you left onmy blog. I laughed a lot! Blogging is far too much fun to even think about doing homework! I love the story of the nativity. I remember being an angel with a white tutu but that is about it! Love your blog btw! Abi xxxxx

Jools said...

The earliest one that sticks in my mind I must have been around 8 or so (I know, terrible memory!) and I was a sheep.

Sounds very boring I know and I would normally have thought so but one of the parents of a girl in my class was really talented and he made everyone masks/heads and they were AMAZING. All made out of card/paper but I've never seen anything like it before or since. No photo sadly... most parents just didn't think about that in the 70s.

Thanks for reminding me of this :D

Becky said...

Sadly I don't remember being in any nativity plays, although I was in them I seem to have blanked them out! However, i worked at a playgroup for several years and had to organise the nativity. I loved it and all the adults used to be in tears on the day as the children were so sweet. My two children were in several nativities when they were little and I always had to take several tissues with me. I really miss the nativity now that they are grown up and I am not working in education any more.