“Get ready!” “It’s time!” “Prepare the way of the Lord!” These are the opening lines of the Little Flower School Christmas play, “Archangel Gabriel’s Awesome Adventure”, a Christmas musical by Beth Merrill and Allan Robert Petker. The 1-6 grade students will present the play for the public on Sunday, Dec. 7th at 2:00pm in the Tilman Hovland Auditorium at Rugby High School. The kindergarten students will present a program with the help of their 5th grade buddies, and Mrs. Swanson’s preschool students will be special guest performers.

Each year, the 6th grade class takes on the responsibility of the speaking roles in the play. This year’s 6th grade class consists of six girls. As kindergarten students, these girls were cute little angels for their Christmas program. And now, as 6th graders, they will again be donning the angel costumes for this year’s play! The Christmas story is presented from the perspective of the angels, from the relaying of God’s messages to Mary and Joseph, and then to the shepherds in the fields. In these weeks before Christmas, we are in a state of preparation as we clean, decorate, bake, send cards, and plan for family gatherings. But in the opening song of our musical, “Prepare the Way”, our 1-6 grade students remind us that the most important preparation is within our hearts: “Open up your hearts, prepare the way, because the Messiah’s coming”.

The families and staff at Little Flower School feel so fortunate to be able to express our belief that Jesus Christ, born those many years ago in a humble stable, is our Lord and Savior. We see the images of Christmas all around us, from Santa and reindeer, to red bows and brightly lit trees, to the all encompassing “Happy Holidays” sentiment. But as we walk into our school building, even though we may see bright decorations and reindeer and Christmas trees, the central and most important images will be the Nativity – the Holy Family of Mary and Joseph and Jesus, surrounded by reverent shepherds and humbled kings. We will light the candles of the Advent wreath with our students and encourage them to open their hearts to Jesus.

We invite you to take a little break from the baking and wrapping. Come to see our Christmas program. Open up your hearts to the true reason for the season and celebrate Christ’s birthday with us.