Watched: 11/23/2024
Format: Cinepolis Theater
Viewing: First
Director: Dallas Jenkins
Selection: KareBear
So, yes. This was not entirely my idea.
The book which inspired the film The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024) was a staple in our household while I was growing up. In it's way, the book was as familiar as Judy Blume and Beverly Cleary for me (I can't speak for Steanso). But I honestly haven't revisited the book in decades or seen the older movie version with Loretta Swit. But every Christmas, whether it's at church with my folks or watching someone at the Vatican read scripture, when they get to the right part, I think of Gladys yelling "Hey! Unto you a child is born!"
For context - While growing up, we were very involved in any church we attended, and my mom, The KareBear, ran the Sunday School at a couple of them.* My mom's perennial draw to the book likely stemmed from seeing herself in several roles in the book - from the hard-scrabble kid growing up figuring things out, to the pious girl who loves church (our narrator, Beth), and culminating in herself as the overextended mom running a Christmas Pageant wherein things are not ideal.
I'll admit, from the kid participant perspective in Christmas pageants - this thing lands. (My earliest memories include my mom making me be an angel in a Vacation Bible School production and having to explain to me that angels are also dudes despite the felt-craft imagery I'd seen to date.)
And, lo, this fall my mother declared that *all she she wanted for Christmas* was for the fam to gather and go see the movie. So, last night my folks (The Admiral and KareBear), Jamie, Steanso, Cardboard Belts and the kids all went to the theater and caught the film.
