My Acting Debut on Christmas Eve -- As Guess Who?

Look out Hollywood, here I come! My first acting job was such a smash success, I may aspire to the silver screen if my plans to become a solar agent like my Dad don't work out.

But any role from here on out will be anticlimactic after my debut as the Son of God. Yes, I was Baby Jesus himself in our Methodist church Christmas Eve service a week or so ago. As the youngest member of our congregation, I guess I was a shoo-in, but that's not to say the role was a cinch. I had to look cute and calm through two hymns, and not cry from the chill when I kicked my "swaddling clothes" off. Hey, I was only wearing a diaper underneath, brrr!

I began preparing for my performance during the mini sermon by Pastor Ankeny. Mom whisked me out of the sanctuary and into a back office, where she put on her Mary costume and stripped me down. Then the aforementioned swaddling clothes (i.e., blanket) went on, and when the huge pipe organ struck up "O Little Town of Bethlehem," making the very air vibrate, we started down the center aisle.

When we reached the altar area, Mom laid me gently in a manger made of wooden slats that was filled with real hay. But beforehand, she had laid my favorite blue fuzzy blanket on top of the hay, so unlike the real Baby Jesus, I didn't have to suffer itchy straw next to my skin. Everyone was singing and the organ was pumping away, and that's when I looked up and became fascinated by the slowly revolving ceiling fan. Unconsciously, I kicked my foot free of my loose swaddle and my chubby bare leg rose straight up into the air. The congregation murmured a collective "awww."

Mom sat right beside me the whole time, and my dad, aunties and grandparents were all in the front row. It looked to me like everyone -- all the women at least -- had tears in their eyes. Afterwards, I heard Mom say she understood for a fleeting moment how the real Mary must have felt, to be so overwhelmed by the miracle that is any child, and then to know her child was the miracle of miracles. I'm not even that religious yet, but that makes spiritual sense to me. I'm glad I could help impart that emotion to her and hopefully others in the audience.

Mom picked me up during "Silent Night" and the candlelighting, and I snuggled against her chest, playing the newborn baby part as well as I could, considering I'm four months old. But hey, that's what acting's all about, right?








See also my pix on our church's brand new website: http://www.trinityumcpt.org/Christmas2008.html