Pageantry

My kid was in the Christmas pageant.  Front and center.  But she wasn't supposed to be. 

On Christmas Eve we scooted down to my parents' Episcopal Church for the children's Christmas pageant.  This is the church I grew up in, was baptized in, and was married in.  I've always felt very at ease and comfortable there...except that one time this kid threw up at the altar while I was acolyting there.  I digress.   

Prior to the beginning of the pageant, Cora was making eyes at one of the precious sheep across the aisle.  She was telling him to "Cah here" and signaling with her chubby hand by making an uncoordinated grasping motion with her palm upturned.

Once the pageant began and all the key players were at the front of the church, I moved up to a front pew so Cora could see everything.  Well, I guess that wasn't close enough because before I could do anything about it, she had wriggled free and was standing among the shepherds and sheep.

As the temperature from my neck up escalated ten degrees and the shade of my cheeks darkened by twenty I was faced with the "what to do" dilemma.  Which is more disruptive?  Let her mingle with the sheep she was previously flirting with or walk in front of everyone to snatch her up and make a scene?  I darted my eyes across the aisle for guidance from my own mother and she mouthed that it was fine.  I wonder if she would have thought the same thing if it had been her daughter rather than her granddaughter up there?  I suspect that grandchildren play by a whole different set of rules.  Mom, feel free to chime in. 

I let her stay and she was content to walk around and try and hand her teether to all the cast members.  At one point she walked over to the manger and said "Baby Jesus" and patted him on the head.  I was afraid there might be a kidnapping but she left him be. 

In the end there weren't any major shenanigans and I ended up wishing I'd had a video camera at hand.

Now, at toddler story time on Monday, it was a different story.  There were shenanigans aplenty, but I think that's a different blog.