The Christmas Story

What comes to mind when you hear "The Christmas Story"?  Do you think of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus?  Maybe some shepherds or the wisemen.  Well, tonight, we had the privilege of seeing the Christmas Story starring, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and... the cow.  More specifically, A the cow.  That's right, every other little girl wanted to be an angel but A wanted to be a farm animal.  The reason-the cow got a whole costume and an angel only got part of one.  Makes sense...

This picture was taken during the actual pageant.  Cesar Augustus came up to read the first verse and give the decree that Mary and Joseph should travel to Nazareth.  As he was reading, this little cow came running up the aisle.  Mary and Joseph were unaware that there would be a cow waiting directly adjacent to the manger.  She held her ground with her arms resting on the manger while Mary placed the baby to rest.  She kept her eyes on him throughout the whole show.  Well, except when she temporarily excused herself from the performance to tell B. that he already took enough pictures. Since we were already laughing hysterically that she came up the aisle early, we almost fell out of the pew that she left her perch only to scold her father.

The manger scene, Mary, Jesus, and the Cow.  I think Mary was trying to convince her to step back out of the limelight.  That didn't happen.

Then, the Angels came up to surround the manger.  I think the cow was supposed to step back.  She did not.  In fact, I think she may have thrown a few elbows to maintain her important position.  

Next up, the shepherds.  The angels moved back to make room.  The cow stayed put.  Note:  she did remove her mask because it was, "too hard to see the baby."  We only know this because she mouthed it to B. from the stage.     

Finally, they invited all other children up to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  She did leave her perch  for this.  

 She came to the front to sit with her brother.  she sat with him through the whole song.  She reached down and kissed his little head several times.   

 She hugged him, loved on him, and prayed with him. I have never been more proud.  

Merry Christmas from S, B, K, and the cow....