Plays

Our church recently did a rendition of "Good King Wenceslas!" It was a very humourous one! How we laughed at all the antics!

Did you know that the words to the carol "Good King Wenceslas" were written by John Mason Neale and published in 1853? The music originated in Finland. This Christmas carol is unusual as there is no reference in the lyrics to the nativity. Good King Wenceslas was the king of Bohemia in the 10th century. He was a Catholic martyr and the Patron Saint of the Czech Republic. St. Stephen's feast day was celebrated on 26th December which is why this song is sung as a Christmas carol.

When I was a kid, we did the play of King Wenceslas. I was the princess in that play.



We did plays twice a year at our one-room schoolhouse in Japan. Once at Christmas and once at the end of the year. Sometimes we invited the neighborhood children to come watch it. But mostly we did it for our missionary parents.

Here is my brother Doug, being silly.

Brother Dan is Hansel.

I'm the angel facing Hansel who has fallen into a deep sleep.

Here I am a pirate and my brother, Doug is Captain Long John Silver from Mutiny on the Bounty.

We don't do the children's Christmas program at church any more. It was too hard with doing Judgement House in late October. Now they do Easter plays at church. Last year was the first time we did that and it was fantastic!

The little children (nursery through K) still do their singing at Christmas time and that is sooooo fun! Laurel sang "O come little children" while they entered the stage. The little nursery kids sang Away in the Manger while they rocked their little baby Jesus. After singing him to sleep, they laid their babies in the manger (we had to have 3 mangers to fit all the baby doll Jesus' in). Then they did a little finger play.

(picture taken by Ian Johnson)

Aren't they just precious!! Christmas plays are so fun!