The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Lorien & Taya were SO excited when we moved here when they found out there was a local community theater here in Prattville that did plays that included kids/teens.  About 3 weeks after we arrived, they held auditions for the Christmas play 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.

There were over 50 kids/teens at the audition & only 10 leads for the play.  That made all of us really nervous.  There is a lot of theater talent here in AL.  To our surprise, & also to much excitement, both girls got a lead role in the play.  

Lorien got the part of Maxine, the goody-goody-two-shoe teenager who narrates the Christmas pageant.

Taya surprised us all & got the part of Gladys Herdman, the youngest of the crazy Herdman clan.  The Herdmans were the worst kids in town.  They swore, smoked, chased, stole, & bit anyone that got in their way.  The entire play is about how they accidently wind up in Sunday School & hijack the Christmas pageant.  It's a beautiful story of how they learn the true meaning of Christmas & through their parts in the pageant, they make the entire town remember the true meaning of Christmas too.

We aren't allowed to video or take pictures of the actual play during performance week, but I did catch a few cute candid photos during their 3 months of rehearsals.  I wish you all could have seen the actual production.  It was phenominal.  I was SO proud of the entire cast. 

They performed 10 official shows & 1 friends & family show.  ALL 11 shows were completely sold out within 3 weeks of ticket sales opening.  (I went 4 times & it was SO fun.)

They set up the cutest little photo booth area in the theater for the audience members to go & take pics.  I thought this was such a fun idea.  My kiddos loved it.

Taya totally stole the show.  Gladys is such a HILARIOUS character.  Just her "Shazam" lines just cracked everyone up.  Even though the character of Gladys is only 6-7 & Taya is 11, she was the PERFECT choice for such a feisty, crazy, LOUD, Herdman girl.

Taya really grew to love her "Herdman" family.  Those 6 kiddos were inseparable & worked so well together.  She was the youngest, but they sure treated her like one of their own.

I was REALLY proud of Lorien too.  She had a LOT of lines that were basically Luke Chapter 2.  Scripture is hard to memorize, especially that much of it.  She did a wonderful job & fit her part perfectly.

I love these Herdman girls.

I also loved how the theater did headshots & bios for each of the cast members.  It was fun seeing professional photos of my girls as well as see full paragraphs about them in the programs.  I couldn't have been prouder.

It was a great & super memorable experience for both of the girls.  Words cannot express how proud I am of them for their dedication (LOTS of hours of rehearsals, LOTS of memorization, & LOTS of nights of performances  . . . even on school nights.  And they managed straight A's in the process!), their hard work, & their amazing performances.

It really was

THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER!

Shazam!