The Servant's Quarters

The Christmas Production

This was a day we have looked forward to with excitement and a little bit of apprehension. Today, I took the day off of work, and we headed to the Novi Christmas Show for the debut of Olivia's one act play called "The Christmas Production."

This journey began a couple of months ago when Liv spotted an advertisement for this holiday event in the Detroit newspaper. A footnote in the ad stated that the show's organizers were looking for talent to perform on stage during the weekend. Any interested parties could call the number included with the ad for consideration. Of course, Olivia was interested.

She and her friend, Nichole, wrote "The Christmas Production" together. When we called the women in charge of the Christmas Show, we were shocked that she asked very few questions. Olivia and Nichole would have the stage for one hour on November 30 to put on their play. So, they cast their friends in the roles. (There were about 15 roles in the show.) They came up with a schedule of rehearsals, climbed around in the attic at our church looking for props and costumes, and whipped the show into shape. In the end, it was...... pretty good. It came together and actually worked. And believe me, there were times when we had had our doubts that it would.

We arrived at noon, one hour before the scheduled performance. It was a rainy day, and much to my chagrin, the promised complimentary parking for guest performers was absolutely jam packed. So, I dropped everyone off, parked far away, and hiked in. The show itself was nice, but not exactly what I suspected. I thought it would be more "event" and less "vendors." Instead, the only entertainment or celebration that was evident was the stage where Liv's company was scheduled to perform, and that was a very small, informal affair tucked away in one corner of the complex. The rest of the very large convention space was taken up by row after row after row of vendors selling just about anything you would want. From unique indoor grills to full size arcade video games to playground structures to perfume to toys to gourmet cookies, someone was selling it. If anyone needed a symbol of the crass commercialism of Christmas, I couldn't think of a better one.

We got the lay of the land, broke out the props, and changed into costume. I sat with Christopher and Aidan while Rita helped Olivia get the kids organized and in their places. This was not going to be the ideal venue, but that was okay with me. It was a very informal arrangement, and the majority of the audience consisted of the parents of the kids performing. Some other families wandered in, and they seemed to be pretty interested in what the kids were doing. At 1:00 PM, the world debut of "The Christmas Production" kicked off at Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Michigan.

The show lasted 7 minutes. It dealt with the angst of a young director (Olivia) trying to coax a performance of the story of the birth of Jesus from a company of young actors. They make it through the play with much difficulty, and Liv's character decides she's had enough. No one will ever know of the awesome miracle of Christmas if this group has anything to say about it. They won't take it serious. She has a fit and storms off the stage. Her distress convinces the young actors to take their play more seriously, and they vow to give it their all. The play ends with their singing, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing."

The kids did a good job despite the difficulty of the set up. The audio system was terrible. Tons of feedback, and it's tough to hear shy kids with noisy microphones. The hustle and bustle of the room was distracting, and there was constant Christmas music being played in the background that the actors had to compete with. But they did it. And they performed the play two more times before surrendering the stage.

Whew. We all were happy that it was over and that it had gone so well.

We spent the rest of the day shopping. It's wasn't a bad time, and we bought some interesting things. Rita brought me to a booth where a woman was selling jars of scented oils as aroma therapy. (I've long been interested in making our house smell nice. I'm constantly on the look out for stinky candles and such. Cinnamon is my favorite. Something about it reminds me of a nice, cozy kitchen.) The oils were very strong, and the lady had descriptions of all the benefits of the various scents. Some were good for clearing your sinuses. Others were effective for curing headaches. Almost all of the scents were listed as being aphrodisiacs. Hot dog. We ended up buying a big jar of vanilla scent for our bedroom. (The woman told us that she gets a lot of people asking her what "aphrodisiacs" are. She tells them that it means "losing weight." I added that it could have that effect if you do it often enough. Ha Ha. Middle age sex jokes. I love 'em.) I also got a little jar of cinnamon scent for my car. Very cool.

We scored some other good stuff, including a couple of gifts. My big prize was an excellent peanut butter cookie. Yummy. Love those cookies.