(10 super star CFRT points if you can name that gladys. i could.)the best christmas pageant ever was a mainstay in our house for five or six years--from about fifth or sixth grade until 10th for me. i believe alan participated for a couple of years in there, too. our local community theater would hold auditions in october and then select 2 casts of about 35 to 40 kids to do a dozen or more performances during december. i started out as a member of the angel choir when i was younger and eventually made my way up to one of the bigger speaking parts by the time i was in the 8th grade. i loved doing theater (still would if i had the time for all of those rehearsals!) and this was a great way for kids to get an easy introduction to doing community theater. the coolest part was doing the school performances--we would have 4 or 5 days during the week where we'd do the show for local school groups. we always got the best laughs from them.
at any rate, it's been years since i'd seen the christmas pageant, and we lucked out that two of my second cousins (my mom's cousin's kids) were doing their last performance sunday afternoon. one of them was cast in the part that i had always done, so i was excited to see them perform and to introduce justin to one of our holiday traditions.
a quick snap of the main scene for the pageant--it is such a sweet story. you can read the book, too. (by barbara robinson)
and the curtain call, where they've added snow falling to add to the holiday scenery!
there were some slight changes that i noticed--a lot done just to update the music and technology, but some that i wish they had kept the same. they used to use the mannheim steamroller version of "silent night" all the way through the last scene and monologue, which was one of my favorite parts. they added in a different song this time and faded in some parts, and they also changed some of the staging with the characters. but overall--still a wonderful program and one of my favorite memories of past christmases.we left just in time to make it back for the kids' program at church, titled, "shepherds, sheep and a savior." so cute to see a couple dozen sheep dressed up on stage!
the room was packed, and even though i might not have had any kids in the play, i still feel like some of these kids are worth coming to see. like some of the sweet, adorable kids that i get to photograph...
and kids of my friends and ones that i see during VBS every year.
it was adorable. i just can't get over those sheep.alright, last project that i had to share. i'm sure some of you photography buffs clicked over to this post at kevin and amanda's. so i found the one shaped-hole punch that i had in the house and gave it a shot.
let me tell you, i took many photos that looked like this:
before i got to the ones that look like this:
it's amazing what a difference the right lens will do. (my 50 mm one instead of my 35 mm one, for those who are curious. different apertures.)
and then trying to do one like amanda did with howie--honestly, i'm not sure how she did that. i couldn't get pepper in focus and have decent heart shapes in the background without getting her right up to the camera (thanks, justin!) i might have to try with an inanimate object next time...
alright, that's it for now. one more day of work! then it's time to relax :)
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