Pillsbury Press: Christmas in August

A year ago, on a warm summer night, Don and I stumbled upon nativity scene. As we were preparing to visit Australia, the idea of celebrating Christmas on a beach while comfortably wearing sandals and shorts made me do a quick sanity check. Did we end up overstaying our trip Down Under by a few months? What happened to Fall? I quickly snapped out of my reverie and enjoyed the Christmas message: "For God so loved the world, He gave his only begotten Son, so those that believe shall not perish, but have eternal life" played out in front of us with children and adults portraying the roles written into scripture.

As the service was drawing to an end, I scoured the internet for the 2024 date and marked the calendar.

A lot of changes have happened in the past year, most notably we both left our jobs (me by choice, Don via a layoff which helped him to dance away). I am still not working (mostly by choice), whereas Don is dancing away at REI as he talks to other outdoor enthusiasts.

As the day drew nearer we studied the forecast. August has brought weather extremes with a week triple digit temperatures followed by a week of rain with a threat of Hurricane Debby. August 12 was a perfect summer night. The only note in the forecast was the possibility of shooting stars due to the annual Perseid meteor shower. The sky was clear, the breeze gentle.

Yes, I wore the same shirt last year

We started the evening with extra chocolate ice cream from Day's Ice Cream, a classic beach ice cream shop, then walked to the pier to get a good spot.

We could see the pageant participants gathering. I spotted a family made up of a king, a page, an angel, and a random animal posing with the beach behind them for what I can only imagine is their annual Christmas card photo. We saw the woman in charge meet with each group individually to go over their moment in the literal spotlight -- yes, this production has a sound system, a small band, and two spotlights. At the end she said since she was seven she has been working on pageants alongside her mother. She estimates she has been a part of 150 pageants. This is the first one without her mother.

People gathered. Those more organized than us brought beach blankets and

Spectacular sunset

chairs. They sat on the sand level with the performers. The crowd grew behind us on the pier with people standing on benches. The largest crowd was on the boardwalk facing the ocean. Post-pandemic, that looked uncomfortably crowded.

We watched the cast of two dozen angels rehearse raising and lowering their arms in sync, and how far apart from each other they need to be. We saw the shepherds gather with their flocks on a small berm in the shadows. We were mesmerized as the three kings led their tiny pages, who held the leashes of their three-headed camels (one camel-head, two heads belonging to grade school aged children) back and forth, and forth and back, until their moment came about 20 minutes into the pageant.

Eight minutes past eight o'clock the pastor led us in prayer. The narrator then read the familiar words of scripture and started the pageant. The keyboard, electric guitar, electric violin, and singer began the music and a visibly pregnant Mary was led by teenage boyfriend to center stage. He held up a blanket and she quickly gave birth. We applauded her miracle.

As the sun was setting, the littlest angels, complete with lit up halos, came first to get the best view. "Angels we have heard on high" played as the teenage through octogenarian angels walked to their positions, also with glowing halos. The next song the shepherds left their fields to see what was happening. Then we heard "We Three Kings..." and the kings arrived from the East (I know it was the east because the ocean is on the east) with their entourage. Finally one small child walks up to the microphone and sings a solo. She looked and sounded like a tiny Taylor Swift with her poise and talent. We all sang "Silent Night," with the band leader prompting us on verses two through four, to cap off the nativity scene. We talked to strangers marveling in the magic as the nativity participants returned to the boardwalk to change out of their costumes and meet up with their families.

Though the story of Jesus' birth rarely strays from the familiar, it still feels magical. Beach nativity is a gift from St. Paul's Ocean Grove Church, a church that believes in meeting people where they are and loving it. Though nothing about this annual tradition is on their church website, they do list that over the summer they hold worship on the boardwalk in the shadows of Ocean Grove's Great Auditorium. What struck me was the intergenerational cast, which probably stood out to me more this year because I participated in our church's intergenerational pageant last Christmastime. Everyone has the opportunity to participate.

We had the perfect spot standing behind a bench where a young couple was sitting. After buying sandwiches they were looking for the perfect bench to sit and enjoy dinner when they stumbled upon the church setting up the pageant. They rooted themselves in that bench. The husband filmed the pageant presumably to share the magic with others (though he said he wasn't planning on sharing it on social media). They were in awe. The story is pretty awesome.

Afterwards we walked to Asbury Park and back down to Ocean Grove. We planned on walked to the end of the boardwalk, only to discover it stretches much further than we remembered. We thought it ended just shy of its border with Bradley Beach, but it continues to Belmar and further south. We hope to visit with the tandem bike during the off-season.

Pageant pictures: