2010 church christmas children's program

This year at church Noah is in the kindergarten Sunday school class even though he's not in kindergarten yet. Evie is in the preschool class. For the church Christmas children's program Noah did not want to participate, initially. We tried to reason with him but it was no use. He was afraid and he just doesn't like this type of thing. If he doesn't want to do something, it's very difficult to get him to come around. And you can forget about a good attitude.

So Terry and I bribed him, or as a friend said, we used good incentive. The kids had been watching daddy install lights in the downstairs ceiling and were really enjoying playing with the flashlight. Noah especially wanted his own flashlight. So Terry told him he could get a flashlight if he participated in the Christmas program and did his best job. And what do you know, it worked!

When we were at Target last weekend, we bought them both a boy and girl flashlight - Cars for Noah and Princesses for Evie. And when Noah was complaining about going to a practice the day before the performance (he said people would laugh at him =( ), I tried reasoning with him to no avail. So I told him he could do his best or no flashlight. That silenced him. And he did wonderfully for the practice. He did even better on Sunday in front of the church. He smiled and did the actions and sang the song. We were so proud of our boy.

They sang a song about how they'd, "give God me this Christmas, it's the best gift I can give. I'll give God me this Christmas and for Him I will live. I'll give God me this Christmas, from my head down to my toes, I'll give God me this Christmas, that's what He wants the most!"

And Noah even learned something, thanks to VeggieTales and the Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella. In this video, Minnesota is afraid to do silly things for fear people will laugh at him. He learns essentially that it's more important to please God than man. On his own initiative on the way home from church Noah said, "I was afraid people would laugh at me but I felt God smiling at me." This is what I tried telling him before practice (remember what Minnesota learns) but he realized it on his own I guess. What a sweet boy.

Next up was Evie. She had been fine about singing but we didn't want to leave her out so she was going to get a flashlight as well. She surprised us with how well she did. She was outstanding. We practiced at home but she really stood out. In fact, she was one of the only kids singing and since she was singing loud, she stole the show. It was stinking adorable. I couldn't stop laughing and most of the audience was the same way. We got many compliments on her performance. She is not shy like Noah!

Evie's class sang "Away in a Manger" and "Happy Birthday Jesus."

Evie inherited a box afterwards. And Noah was so funny up there - I was worried he would fall down since his box was so long. But he did great.

Flashlights!