Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

Last night my eldest and I went to watch my youngest perform at the annual school Christmas program. She attends a Catholic school and they create a living Nativity each year. The oldest students play the parts of Mary, Joseph etc while the younger children are angels, animals and shepherds. There are more kids than parts so some of the kids perform as the choir and others play instruments such as guitar and handbells. My daughter's class played "Oh Little Town of Bethelehem" using handbells. They did a terrific job! Later they sang along with the rest of the school. My eldest reunited with some old classmates and recognized many of their younger siblings there as well. She thought the little ones were so cute. She almost wished she had more younger siblings. Almost.

We sat with friends and at one point my best friend and I both realized that we were having a hard time keeping our composure. Our daughters are in middle school but their performance was not what had us blinking back tears. It was the younger ones, singing, that had us teary-eyed. Later she confided in me that she's having a hard time with the fact that her 8th grader will be graduating in the spring. That was me a few years ago. It took me all of the 8th grade year (and quite a few tears!) to accept that my 'little girl' was growing up and moving from the security of middle school to the unknown of high school. Just yesterday she was the little one singing the songs. Next year she'll be a senior in high school. Wow! I'll really miss the closeness of our Catholic school 'family' when my youngest graduates in a couple of years.

The Nativity you see is just like the sort we used to get when I was a child. Seems like every year we came home with one from school. Years later I found this one in it's original box at an antique shop. Couldn't pass it up! They were so common back then but hard to come by now. This one gets a special spot on the mantle every year. Just like the memories of my children singing in the Christmas program will always have a special place in my heart.