The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Earlier this fall I got one of those "mass e-mails" from a district employee that had an affiliation with the community theater in our area.  It said that they were needing more boys to try out for the play "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" that was going to be in December.  Immediately I thought, Landon has to do this!  Chris and I have said for a long time that "acting" would be right up his ally.  So I went on-line and found out all the details, printed out the audition script and song and took it home that night. 

Landon was familiar with this play because last year his class went on a field trip to see it.  I remember him telling me that he liked it and thought it was funny. I knew I couldn't just tell him I was going to take him to an audition, I had to ease into this one.  So when I got home from school I started talking about the play, asking him if he remembered it, and so on.  We were having a nice conversation about it and I said "You know Landon, I got an e-mail today that said they needed some boys to try out for this play, I think you should do this."  I knew it would probably be hard to convince him, but I had no idea the reaction I was about to receive.  He looked at me and his eyes welled up with tears.  He said "mom, what if I would mess up and all those people would laugh at me?"  He was as serious as he could be, and I thought "Oh my gosh kid, I just suggested that you try-out!"  But our Landon is a pretty literal kiddo, and in his mind, he had already put himself on that stage and thought of the worst possible scenario.  I told him not to worry about that and we would think about this for a while.

The problem was, I didn't have a "little while." I had 5 days to convince him to do this, and have him practice enough to be comfortable to get up and audition!  I had to come up with a quick plan, perhaps a little devious, but totally with his best interest at heart!  My plan needed another person to be involved and who better to be in on this than Jackson!  When he got home I told him what was going on and asked if he thought he could try out too, just to make Landon feel more comfortable.  He said yes and then said, "well mom, what do I do if I make it?"  I about fell on the floor laughing!  I assured him we would cross that bridge when we came to it.

That evening Jackson delivered an Oscar performance!  He told Landon he was going to try out and that he should do it too.  They started talking about it and then started reading the lines to each other.  It was fun to sit back and listen to all of this unfolding in the living room.  Then they got on YouTube and watched some of the movie.  That's when Landon decided he would try out.

The day of the tryouts, Jackson decided he was too busy to be in the play (wink, wink) and Landon was OK with that.  Chris and I had talked about this and decided that our only goal out of this entire process was to have Landon be confident enough in himself to get on that stage and say the lines and sing the song, and not have a breakdown!!  And....he did it!! :) 

He was chosen to be a shepherd, an non-speaking role.  We were pretty surprised he was chosen, but then had to say "OK, we have 3 kids and we work full time, what have we done here?" In fact, after the first e-mail letting us know he was in it, I replied to the director and said that we didn't know if we could make this commitment since his part was a non-speaking part and we had a 30 minute drive to get to the rehearsal's.  He replied to my email and gave me the names of people we could carpool with, then said that this would be a great experience for our son.....and boy was he right!

This experience was so great for Landon.  His self-esteem just sailed!  He was definitely in "his element!"  Sunday was the last performance (there were 12 in all....whew!), Chris took him and when he got home I asked him how it was....he said "Great! And next year mom, I'm going to try out again and get a speaking part!"

This is during dress rehearsal. Top row, middle.

Walking on stage.

 

The Herdman Family...what a crew!!

 

The Shepherds watching their flocks by night.

 

Cutest little shepherd a sheep ever had!

His friend from school, Stevie Grace.

Telling GGPA all about it!

 

Just some of the people who came to see the play.  Uncle Ward and Aunt
Colleen.  GGPA and Liz.  Gigi and Uncle JJ. And the one who is responsible
for Landon trying out...Jackson!!