The "Plane" Truth about Christmas

2nd post for the day-I was at school for Ashley's Christmas Program but wanted to share a picture of the big school tree-the gold ornaments are glittery names of countries that students are from.

 Above is the circus themed book fair that had been going on

 The youngest classes, 3 and 4 year olds, came out and sang a song-They were all adorable-above wearing Christmas pjs and below are the presents!

 This class was the wisemen

 Here are the adorable Christmas trees!

 below is one of Ashley's favorite people in all the Philippines, Hannah!

 Then came the main story-done by Kindergarten classes and the 1st and 2nd grade choir (who are on the risers in the back).  The story was a great one-a bunch of Christmas travelers were stranded by a bad snowstorm at O'Hare Airport-there was a song entitled "No fair, O'Hare".  These children below meet a traveling missionary and learn that they can celebrate Christmas anywhere!  So the children put on a Christmas show for all the travelers stuck in the airport!

 Ashley's class were dressed as Nutrcrackers and sang a song called "Jesus is the reason for the season"

 There were so many hilarious things in the program that only the adults watching would have picked up on and probably many in the audience did not know the significance of the bellringer below with the red bucket.  This is a BIG Christmas tradition in my family.  My mother and one of her cousins talk about Christmas shopping downtown Atlanta with their mothers and you NEVER passed a Salvation Army red bucket without dropping in some money.  This cousin's daughter and I also remember doing this with our mothers while we were out around Christmas and have said that we CANNOT pass one without putting change in-even if you have to go in the store, get change, and then put the change in on your way out of the store.  Our church in Greenville got volunteers to be bellringers each Christmas at a nearby Wal-Mart and the boys and I did this one year.  We all remember the VERY cold Saturday that we stood outside the store one ringing the bell, one wearing the Salvation Army apron, singing Christmas songs, and thanking people for their donations and wishing people a Merry Christmas.  The Salvation Army could do very well with the "red bucket campaigns" if they did it in the Philippines since Christmas starts in September and lasts through all the "ber" months!

 This was the newscrew and anchorwoman who "reported" on the kids program and gave weather news.  Ashley told me that Mr. Tony, her art teacher, painted the backdrop picture-I was impressed!

 Here is the Fluor general manager's daughter singing her solo as a lovely angel!

 Below are Mary and Joseph-all the nativity costumes came from things they could find at the airport or get out their luggage.  Joseph was wearing a green bathrobe printed with teddy bears!

 2 more Kindergarten classes performed!

 Below are the shepherds-their staffs were umbrellas!

 Here come the wise men with their crowns from McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Subway!

 All the children came out for a final song at the end!

 Here are some pictures from the next day when I went to see the show again with Greg.

 Ashley was chosen for a special part in the drama and had a lot of fun being an airline stewardess!  These 3 above came out before the show began for the in flight safety talk.  A little boy who rides our bus did the voiceover and these 3 did the motions for fastening your seatbelt, what to do with the oxygen mask, and wearing a lifejacket.

 Here the flight attendants are running around getting ready.  Ashley loved that her job was to fluff the girls' scarves and straighten the boys' ties.  The flight attendants all danced and sang to a song called "It's Christmas time!"

 This little girl was the PA announcer in the airport and had the perfect voice for it.  Greg laughed when he caught her dancing and singing along from her post up high!

 They all worked hard and did a terrific job!