In the spirit

I have done a few things this week to get me into the Christmas spirit. Perhaps eventually I’ll go try and buy some presents.

First, I was a shepherd in my church’s living nativity play. I guided people through the streets of Bethlehem until we came upon the baby Jesus. I had several lines, and I mostly remembered them. It was one of my best acting jobs. There’s some early Oscar buzz about my performance. Or maybe Tony buzz, since it wasn’t a movie, though some people did bring along their video cameras.

It was my first performance in a Christmas play since I was about 4 years old and going to the Nazarene Church in Griffin, Ga. We all had to wear little costumes and recite Bible verses, but I was having trouble with mine.

Now, a popular song at the time was “Harper Valley PTA,” which was pretty racy for 1968. I used to entertain my aunts and uncles by singing along every word. I couldn’t memorize that little Bible verse, but I had “Harper Valley PTA” down pat.

As I heard my mother re-tell the story years later, my big moment came in the pageant, and I froze. Apparently I couldn’t recall my verse. So I said “I can’t remember what I was supposed to say so I’m going to sing a song.”

My mother, of course, was mortified, as I began to sing that song. I believe somebody got me off the stage before I could get to the part about the man having sex with his secretary, but the damage was done.

The second Christmasy-thing I did this year was to work at the Empty Stocking Fund, helping to pass out presents to the parents of the poor chilluns. No matter how I feel about how some of their parents have gotten to this situation, in the end, it’s not the children’s fault.

We finally decorated our tree a couple of days ago, and threw some Christmas lights up on the trees and bushes out front of the house in the tackiest way possible. We always cut our tree down from a tree farm, and a large portion of the ornaments are homemade by the kids. We came across a Michael Vick ornament my son had bought a few years ago, but we didn’t put it on the tree. We threw it out back for Lucky to play with.

Thanks to the miracle of the DVR, I haven’t had to miss any of my favorite Christmas shows this year. One great thing about having kids is you can watch Rudolph and Frosty and Charlie Brown and not feel like a weirdo.

When they were younger, we would all get up on the bed, turn the lights off in the room and watch every Christmas show that came on. Now that they’re teen-agers, they think it’s a little creepy to get on the bed with dad, so we watch from the couch.

The best Christmas movie of all is, of course, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I have that one on DVD now so I never have to miss it. Some other good ones are “A Christmas Story,” “Elf,” and the version of “A Christmas Carol” with George C. Scott.

That’s what I’ll do this week. Watch some of my favorite movies, then head out to buy some presents. I mean, the stores won’t be crowded, right?