Franz thought, see they celebrate Christmas, too. He saw one of his friends making a sign on a large piece of cardboard. “What’s that?” he asked. “It’s for a Christmas truce,” his friend said. “See, there are other signs.” Sure enough, when Franz looked, he saw that others had put up signs. “But the English don’t understand German,” he said. “And they can’t read our gothic alphabet. Here, let me.” And taking the pen he wrote in big bold letters, “YOU NO FIGHT, WE NO FIGHT” .
As he put up the sign, he saw that across the way on the English and French side somebody had put up an improvised banner. “MERRY CHRISTMAS,” it said. Up and down the trenches, on both sides, more signs popped up, celebrating the day.
Oh, ja! Franz climbed out of the trench and laid down his rifle. With his hands up and waving his white handkerchief, he stepped into no-man’s land. Slowly others joined him and then, one by one, the English and French stepped out too. The combatants met in the middle and shook hands, wishing each other a merry Christmas. The first thing they did was bury the dead they had been unable to reach because of the conflict. Then they exchanged gifts. Chocolate cake, cognac, postcards, newspapers, tobacco. Then one English boy, who reminded Franz of his cousin Bobby, brought out a soccer ball. There, between the trenches, on Christmas day, they played games with the enemy.
The truce didn’t last long. The generals didn’t like what was happening at all and ordered their troops to resume firing at each other. Reluctantly, the men returned, each to his own side. They did eventually resume the shooting, but not after wasting many rounds of ammunition by firing into the sky.
Franz held on to that memory. He held close to his heart the few precious moments when there was peace on earth, good will toward men. Christmas, he thought. Something happens at Christmas. It happened 2,000 years ago in the village of Bethlehem. It’s happened again and again down through the years. And it happened tonight, here in Flanders, in 1914. As Franz went to sleep that night, strains of music drifted through his thoughts. “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht! Sleep in heavenly peace.”
~~~~
Christmas Bells
A Short Story
As Henry finished carving the Christmas turkey, his gaze drifted around the table at his family. It lingered longest on his wife Fanny. Even after 17 years he marveled that such a sparkling source of delight had consented to marry him.
Not that it had been an easy courtship. He smiled softly at his memories. Anything but. When they had first met, Fanny had not been impressed. Ten years her senior, he was a Harvard professor, of all things, and, worse, gaining fame as a poet. Moreover, he was still grieving the loss of his first wife and baby who had died just eight months before. He remembered how Fanny’s laughter and joy of living had dispelled his gloom. She reawakened in him the sense of fun he thought he had lost forever.
At first Fanny had refused his suit. He was, after all, her father’s friend! A “venerable gentleman” , she had called him, and he only 29 years old! Henry’s lips twitched as he remembered her indignation over a poem he had written during that time satirizing his pursuit of her. He’d really messed up with that one! Furious at the unwanted publicity the poem brought her, she’d castigated the piece as “desultory, objectless, a thing of shreds and patches like the author’s mind.” Yes, his Fanny had her own sweet way with words! He was never too sure why she changed her mind a few years later. He was just grateful that she did. He now wrote poems about their children, whom he considered his proudest achievement.
As he celebrated Christmas that day, he did not think life could get any better. His five children were healthy and happy. His wife remained his dearest friend. He could now earn a living through his poetry. His nation was growing and prospering. The election of November 1860, just seven weeks before, had seen Abraham Lincoln named to the presidency. He was content and full of hope.
Henry’s optimism would soon be shattered. Forces beyond his control were already shaping events that would plunge his country into a Civil War, pitting brother against brother. On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was attacked and war declared. Henry despaired. Who could foresee the end, he wondered? The war horrified him as it ripped the land with its carnage and death.
Three months after the war began, tragedy devastated Henry’s family. It was a hot, sultry July day. Fanny had cut the little girls’ hair to give them relief from the heat. While sealing some of the curls into paper packages, melted wax dripped on the light material of her dress and burst into flame. The fire quickly engulfed her as she fled from the room. Henry grabbed a rug and tried frantically to extinguish the flames. It was too small. Shrieking in pain and terror, she ran from him and then back. He beat out the fire and she collapsed to the floor.
Fanny died the next day.
Henry, also dreadfully burned and prostrate with grief, was unable to attend his wife’s funeral. The next few years limped by. The war ravaging the land filled him dismay. Each Christmas was a time of sorrow as he desperately missed his soul mate. “How inexpressibly sad are all holidays,” he wrote in his journal. When a well-meaning friend reminded him that we all have crosses we must bear, he retorted, “Bear the cross, yes; but what if one is stretched on it?”
His anguish increased when his eldest son, Charles, lied about his age and joined the Union army. On December 1, 1863, Henry received a telegram from Washington. Charlie had been severely wounded. An Enfield ball had ploughed through Charlie’s upper back, damaging his spine. Christmas that year was drearier than ever as he nursed his son.
Towards the end of 1864, Henry knew an upsurge of hope. On November 10, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected President of the United States. Perhaps light was breaking through the storm that had battered the country during the last four years. “We breathe freer,” he told his journal. “The country shall be saved.”
That Christmas he wrote a poem of seven stanzas. The poem described the optimism of the pre-War years and then the desolation of War. The sixth stanza expressed his personal despair. The seventh stanza, however, resonated with Henry’s deep-seated faith in a God who would see them through the wilderness. Circumstances had not changed, yet somehow hope was reborn in Henry. Without knowing that the War would end within the next year, Henry celebrated that hope. Eleven years later the poem was revised and it became a Christmas hymn that remains popular to this day.
The poem, Christmas Bells, was a testimony of the faith of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Here it is as he wrote it:
~~~~
Christmas Bells
By Henry W. Longfellow
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
Th' unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Till ringing, swinging on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then from each black, accurséd mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
“ There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“ For hate is strong
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“ God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail,
r />
The right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.
Sources:
Campbell, Douglas. “A Christmas Carol…and the story behind it” . Harvard Magazine. January-February 1991.
(Note: two quotes came from Longfellow’s journals: April 12, 1861 and December 25, 1861.)
~~~~
Christmas Salutations
A Christmas Rap
I’ve scripted this for five parts: Persons 1, 2, 3, Bing, and Lead. The lines spoken by Persons 1, 2, 3, and Bing may be done by any number of people, but those spoken by the Lead should all be done by the same person who doesn’t say any of the other lines. The speakers can be any age, but it would be nice to have a cross-section of ages.
Kids (Unison, singing): Santa Claus is coming to town! (They can also sing lines and phrases from a couple of other popular Christmas songs, such as “Jingle Bells , “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. Then they chant the following, creating pandemonium. I suggest the four lines of the chant be divided among the children. As each new line is added, the kids chanting the previous lines continue, so that the chaos builds.)
Group 1 (Repeat chant four times): Trees, wreathes, batteries!
Group 2 (Start chant on second chant of Group 1 so it is said simultaneously in rhythm): Red sleds, gingerbreads!
Group 3 (Start chant on third chant of Group 1and second chant of Group 2 so it is said simultaneously in rhythm): Fake flakes, fruity cakes!
Group 4 (Start chant on fourth chant of Group 1 so it is said simultaneously in rhythm): Stars, cars, caviar! (The “rap” begins right on the end of the chant. You could have some kids doing video game type sound effects for rhythm in the background. For dramatic effect, have Lead enter upstage and wander through the commotion, looking lost and overwhelmed as the others bombard him/her with the din.)
Person 1: Cacophony assaults us as we step in through the door:
Person 2: Toys galore make noise outroar,
Person 3: Ka-chink! in every store.
Person 2: Dolls,
Person 3: And balls
Person 1: And Santa Claus
PersonS 1, 2, 3 (Together): Installed in shopping malls.
Lead (Moving to down centre of the stage. The others back off, leaving him/her in a “power spot” ): Where's the gift that came to us in a humble stable stall? (The noise dies down as the chorus is chanted by everyone with feeling and heart. They join Lead to become a cohesive whole)
Kids: Merry Christmas!
Adults: It's the birthday of a King!
Kids: Merry Christmas!
Adults: Let's celebrate and sing!
Lead: The season is for Jesus,
The holiday His birth,
When God became a man for us
And made His home on earth.
BING (Singing): Happy Holiday,
Person 1 (Resume rap): We hear, in Bing's smooth crooner’s voice.
Person 2: Season's Greetings is the cheer,
Person 3: In buying we rejoice.
Lead: What's become of Christmas,
wondrous time of peace and joy?
Where is sweet remembrance
of Mary's little boy?
Kids: Merry Christmas!
Adults: It's the birthday of a King!
Kids: Merry Christmas!
Adults: Let's celebrate and sing!
Lead: The season is for Jesus,
The holiday His birth,
When God became a man for us
And made His home on earth.
ALL (Singing): Oh, come let us adore Him,
Oh, come let us adore Him,
Oh, come let us adore Him,
Christ, the Lord!
~~~~
Recitations for Children
These are simple rhyming poems, suitable for very young children.
Welcome
Welcome, welcome to our church
As we celebrate Jesus’ birth
~~~~
Christmas Is Here!
Christmas is here!
Filling hearts with cheer.
~~~~
Celebrate
Come celebrate
A Baby’s birth
Come celebrate
Peace on earth
~~~~
One Dark Night
One dark night in Bethlehem
A holy Child was born
Bringing hope, joy, peace and love
And light of a bright new morn
~~~~
Clap, Clap
Clap, clap, clap your hands
Shout aloud
And with us dance
Lift, lift, lift your voice
Sing your praise
With us rejoice
~~~~
Come Together
We come together
We celebrate
The birthday of a King
We raise our hands
We lift our voice
With joyful hearts we sing
Glory, glory, glory to God
Glory in the highest
Glory, glory, glory to God
Glory to His Name
~~~~
Gloria!
Gloria!
Bright stars dancing
Gloria!
Angels singing
Gloria!
Shepherds wondering
Gloria!
Joy bells ringing
Gloria!
Baby sleeping
Gloria!
Hearts a-leaping
~~~~
What Wonder
O what a wonder
O what joy
The hope of all people
Born a Boy
~~~~
O Come
O come, come mighty angels
Come to shepherd folk and sing
Sing the birthing of a Saviour
And the peace and hope He brings
O come, come humble shepherds
Come to Bethlehem and see
See the Baby in a manger
Born to save both you and me
O come, come royal wise men
Come to Christ, with hearts to give
Give your treasure, offer worship
To the Babe who makes you live
O come, come little children
Come to Jesus Christ and kneel
Kneel before the gentle Baby
Souls to save and hearts to heal
###
About the Author
L. Ruth Carter
Writer, public speaker, actor, singer—I am a storyteller. Although I have held many jobs through the years in retail, administration, and Christian theater, I always come back to my love of stories. The very best stories are those that focus on and glorify Jesus Christ.
After spending many years travelling around Canada, the U.S., and Europe with an itinerant drama ministry, I now live in Cottage Country, Ontario with my father and my dog, Scooter.
Connect with me online
My website, Leaping Off the Page, is l-ruth-carter.com.
~~~~
Purchasing Production Kits
I hope you enjoyed reading these program pieces. If you would like to produce and perform any of them in your church, go to my website where you may order a production “kit” . This kit is an 8½ x 11 inch PDF document. Purchasing a kit gives you the rights to print as many copies as you need, and to perform the pieces in your church. This is also available in hard copy.
The following pieces were previously published
by Lillenas Publishing Company in their Christmas program builders
(www.lillenas.com):
“A Christmas Moment”: Christmas Program Builder No. 63
“Christmas Truce”: Christmas Program Builder No. 62
“Christmas Bells”: Christmas Program Builder No. 64
“Christmas Salutations”: Christmas Program Builder No. 64
Recitations for
Children: Christmas Program Builder No. 62
~~~~
Also Available
Leaping Off the Page:
Easter, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day Edition
This collection of performance pieces includes one-act plays, sketches, monodramas, poems, litanies, and worship services.
Exalt the King
A litany for Palm Sunday, it includes a responsive reading interspersed with singing.
Previously published by Lillenas Publishing Company in their Easter Program Builder No. 32.
Palms
Comedic Sketch. Four children. About six minutes.
Two children explain Palm Sunday to a couple of friends who have a hard time understanding what it all means.
Hosanna!
Alphabet Poem. Eight children. Two minutes.
Spelling out "Hosanna!" children tell the story of the triumphant entry using rhyming couplets.
Previously published by Lillenas Publishing Company in their Easter Program Builder No.34.
The Bitter Cup
Monodrama. One woman. Six to eight minutes.
Featuring Salome, the mother of James and John, this piece takes place in that time between Jesus' death and His resurrection. As she grieves, she ponders some of the things Jesus said to her.
Oh What a Day!
Monodrama. One woman. Six to eight minutes.
Mary Magdalene has just seen Jesus alive, and she is overcome with joy.
Previously published under the title "In Him Is Light" by Standard Publishing Company's Easter Programs for the Church, 2004.
A sample from this script follows below.