Your Personal Nativity .. Classic/Dud/Somewhere in between...

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Just seems appropriate.

2 days ago, Alice surprised me with the news that she's in the running to play Mary in the upcoming nativity. She's cool about it and we're not building it up at all just in case it goes to someone else.

I shared the story of when I did one, back in 1968 I believe. I would be 7 then, and was the second wise man, the one with the Frankincense.

So, did you? And can we fill all the parts between us?

OK, so it's "No Yule November" or something, I dunno.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

What with my mum running the church and all, I had no choice but to be in ours.

I was the Angel Gabriel - it was the part with the most speaking, and I had the best memory. And, err, everyone thought my accent would be more appropriate for an angel or something.

(Or maybe I dreamed the entire thing. I dunno, childhood memories are like that.)

― Breaking Under The Crush (kate), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

just a bit of virgin birth, so let's be cool.

― benrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

I've been Joseph more than once. And an ass.

― stet (stet), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think I ever participated in the event and most probably, because I'm atheist, won't encourage my daughter to participate in it unless she wants to.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:46 (nineteen years ago)

I think I was the inkeeper once, and a shepherd on a couple of other occasions. I remember lots of small children swordfighting with shepherds' crooks.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:47 (nineteen years ago)

inkeeper too, i remember my acting wife was the fittest girl in school.

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:52 (nineteen years ago)

For the last two years of primary school, I played the Archangel Gabriel (this was probably because I was the only girl at school who had very long fair hair, apparently the sole pre-requisite for being part of the angelic host).

One year, one of the shepherds (gathered with other people sporting tea-towel headgear around a fire made from red cellophane strips and an old bicycle lamp) got his lines wrong. Instead of the bit where he was supposed to thank the Lord for "bringing forth bread", he thanked him for bringing forth Fred, and my mother (front row of audience) started giggling uncontrollably. I was mortified.

I remember the first nativity play which my eldest daughter starred in (angel number three, I think) - Joseph knocked on the door to ask the Innkeeper if he had a room for the night, to which he accidentally replied "yes", throwing the whole being-born-in-a-stable thing into chaos.

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

Nathalie: Do you mean "discourage" participation? Because usually, they either want to be in it, or are too shy.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:54 (nineteen years ago)

Owen Meany to thread.

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

i can't remember what i was, but i was on one.

i think most parents where i grew up (mine inc) were atheists.

but it's a bit of hypocrisy i can live with.

― benrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

Joseph knocked on the door to ask the Innkeeper if he had a room for the night, to which he accidentally replied "yes", throwing the whole being-born-in-a-stable thing into chaos.

did everyone emergency adlib until the end then?

― Ste (Fuzzy), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

I was the narrator from Primary 1 to Primary 7.

I've never played a part in my life.

― Rumpsy Pumpsy (Rumpie), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

The Nativity Story is kinda rub for girls... except for Mary.

My mum always used to burst out laughing at Nativity representations, going "look at all these men crowding around, to try and masculinise something so feminine as giving birth to a baby" - but anyway, I'll leave Church politics out of this.

― Breaking Under The Crush (kate), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:02 (nineteen years ago)

I've never seen one of these much less participated.

― Sam rides the beat like a bicycle (Molly Jones), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:04 (nineteen years ago)

Mark: Well, no, I do mean encourage. In the sense that I would not encourage her to participate in religious events/plays or whatever. Does that make sense? Tired and English is rapidly *devolving* here.

― Nathalie (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:06 (nineteen years ago)

I was the narrator until I became one of the musicians.

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085231/

― Fleischhutliebe! like a warm, furry meatloaf (Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:08 (nineteen years ago)

I read this as "Your Personal Naivity", and was like "holy fuck, I am ALL OVER this thread!"

I'm kinda glad I was wrong, now.

― teh_kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:09 (nineteen years ago)

i was always a shepred, never anything more then a sheperd,

― pinkmoose (jacklove), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:10 (nineteen years ago)

I thought the thread was going to be asking for gory childbirth stories YET STILL I CLICKED ON IT.

(Shepherds are cool, anthony)

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:13 (nineteen years ago)

I'll leave Church politics out of this.

No one ever wants to get mad at the church anymore. I blame those damn pesky kids. Course they're the ones who got the church into such trouble nowadays so...

I was in a nativity. Can't remember what I was so obviously wasn't one of the 'stars'. Such blindness to such talent!

― Kv_nol (Kv_nol), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

Nathalie: Do you mean "discourage" participation? Because usually, they either want to be in it, or are too shy.

this is not how i remember it

― jhoshea megafauna (scoopsnoodle), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:29 (nineteen years ago)

why didn't you want to be in it?

― 2 american 4 u (blueski), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:32 (nineteen years ago)

I was a Wise Man at least a couple of times.

Oh the ironing etc.

― Through a twenty deep screen of humourists (noodle vague), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:35 (nineteen years ago)

I don't remember ever being in one. I think they might have been cancelled when our primary school got a new hippy headteacher, as I do remember being Dick Whittington in a production that ended with the Lord Mayor of London's daughter turning down the arranged marriage because she was an emancipated female. (Well, in the context of the play it was "because [Dick Whittington] has smelly feet", but we all knew what she meant.)

(By the way, I'm not suggesting this was an 'overly-PC' thing - we all really enjoyed doing it, much better than religious set-pieces.)

― emil.y (emil.y), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:36 (nineteen years ago)

But my schools didn't always do straight Nativities. We done A Christmas Carol one year, I was Scrooge. An overly-theatrical teacher whitened my hair with that stuff you use to mark out football pitches. It was quite hard to remove.

― Through a twenty deep screen of humourists (noodle vague), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

Still, it stopped footballers standing on your head for a while.

― C J (C J), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

I was one of those spurious made-up parts at primary school - a snowflake I think it was.

At my next school we did a nativity play in German (yeah, it was that kind of a school) and I played an inkeeper. But all I had to do was hold up a lantern and shake my head sadly. In a German sort of way I suppose.

― Archel (Archel), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

Ours is a church school. I 'chose' it because it had a swimming pool. (Actually, it's the school for our catchment, but hey)

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 15:40 (nineteen years ago)

i think i have a memory of this, but it might just be a made-up memory from a book. anyway, i think i was in one once, we went to church until i was 9 so it would've been earlier than that.

― Maria (Maria), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 17:58 (nineteen years ago)

I was Gabriel, and it took me a few years to realise Gabriel was a bloke's name.

― Cressida Breem (neruokruokruokne?), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:06 (nineteen years ago)

And here I thought this thread would be a place for me to speak of my nativity, which, as I was the fifth child of my parents, was not considered anything especially wonderous at the time. Nor can I recall my own personal reaction to it, which I presume was equanamous enough, although not without a certain startlement when the water broke.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:19 (nineteen years ago)

i was the narrator, for the same reason kate was gabriel.

― emsk ( emsk), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

I thought your mum was a teacher, not a priest!

― Do Not Feed The Crush (kate), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:30 (nineteen years ago)

Innkeeper was always the most coveted role "No there's no room!"*shrug*, this is better than being the innkeeper with stable.

― jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:41 (nineteen years ago)

not the mum bit, the memory bit! our nativity thing was in school, not church. oh hang on, when i was about 8 i went to sunday school because my best friend did, and i was in their play too. no one had any good lines though i think, it was just 1 or 2 lines of talking then another song. i was... a candle. i had to skip down the aisle yelling "i am a christmas candle!". i quite enjoyed it iirc.

― emsk ( emsk), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:47 (nineteen years ago)

I was the narrator. I was always, in everything ever, the narrator. I had a satin jacket that said LIL MORGAN FREEMAN EARL JONES on the back.

― nabisco (nabisco), Wednesday, 22 November 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

i was Joseph in 2nd or 3rd grade, can't remember. peaked too early as grade school & high school kinda sucked in general

― timmy tannin (pompous), Thursday, 23 November 2006 02:10 (nineteen years ago)

I was a Star Boy in my church's Santa Lucia pagent. (Swedish thing).

― mahalo 4 ur kokua (grady), Thursday, 23 November 2006 02:21 (nineteen years ago)

I was the narrator. I was always, in everything ever, the narrator. I had a satin jacket that said LIL MORGAN FREEMAN EARL JONES on the back.

"Mary stood for months with Baby Jesus carefully perched on her feet, sometimes in the middle of the manger where she was sheltered by the magi and donkeys, sometimes pushed out to the freezing edge of the mass of bodies. Finally, Joseph arrived and vomited up food for his savior and his mate."

― Joe Isuzu's Petals (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 23 November 2006 02:31 (nineteen years ago)

shepreds suck, cause i had to stay still, and i was an antic child

― pinkmoose (jacklove), Thursday, 23 November 2006 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

I played Santa Claus in my Kindergarten Christmas nativity thing.

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 23 November 2006 03:06 (nineteen years ago)

I am crying into my boiled egg at how funny this is.

If I had actually been there I think I would have had to have been removed from the auditorium.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 23 November 2006 08:07 (nineteen years ago)

I remember in primary school in the convent we did a version of the Nativity in which the narrator used bits of "When a Child Is Born" to tell the story. I remember thinking at the time that it was lame, but now I think, well done the nuns for at least owning a record.

― accentmonkey (accentmonkey), Thursday, 23 November 2006 08:09 (nineteen years ago)

When I was 7 or 8 our school put on some Little Drummer Boy production for the parents and they auditioned kids to be drummers with actual drums. They played the song in class and we were supposed to air drum bum, bum, bum-bum-bum to it. I kept over playing (following the "pa rum pum pum pum" beat for beat), and so wasn't chosen. I was thinking "But I can do better than your beat!" and considered it an injustice. I ended up marching into the auditorium with all the other non-drummers behind the three kids they picked to drum. Bastards.

― nickn (nickn), Thursday, 23 November 2006 08:39 (nineteen years ago)

Innkeeper was always the most coveted role "No there's no room!"*shrug*, this is better than being the innkeeper with stable.
-- jel -- (freeduni...) (webmail), Yesterday 6:41 PM. (later) (link)

Funnily enough, I heard last night Alice missed out on Mary, but is now the innkeeper's wife.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 23 November 2006 09:52 (nineteen years ago)

My sympathies, Mark. Have her rival kneecapped or something.

My little brother was Gabriel once, declared "and you shall name him Joseph", then followed that up with a loud "SHIT!" and bolted from the stage.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:02 (nineteen years ago)

I'm sure Alice will be the best innkeeper's wife there has ever been :)

― C J (C J), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:04 (nineteen years ago)

Alice will be going "NO WE HAVENT!!!"

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:17 (nineteen years ago)

She should ask Joseph if he's got a credit card.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:24 (nineteen years ago)

i had to skip down the aisle yelling "i am a christmas candle!".

I don't know why, but I can picture this *so* easily.

― Do Not Feed The Crush (kate), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:49 (nineteen years ago)

I was a HERALD or something, which initially was deflating cos I wanted to be Joseph or whatever, but in ours Joseph had no lines, just walking around.

So I had some lines. I remember I got a snuffle as I was about to speak and had to splutter a bit.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 23 November 2006 10:51 (nineteen years ago)

Innkeeper's wife is a good role! She'll get to kickback while all the other kids with the bigger roles have to rehearse all the time.

I was scene shifter once as I refused to dance or be some fluffy animal, that was ace! I got to rearrange stuff between scenes - it was clearly the most important role, second only to the teacher who was directing.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 23 November 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

I was Mary. According to my mum I spent most of the time when I wasn't being the centre of attention mouthing along to everyone else's words too, and nudging K3v1n Sl4n3y (who was playing Joseph) in the ribs every time he was meant to speak in case he forgot his words (our version obviously rated our Joseph above Ronan's silent one).

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 23 November 2006 20:27 (nineteen years ago)

She gets to sing solo, so she's really pleased.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 24 November 2006 00:15 (nineteen years ago)

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