Nativity Plays

Tell me baby, do you recognise me? Well, it’s been a year, it doesn’t surprise me

Tuesday 27th December 2016Wednesday 25th January 2017Baggie

It is tradition on Baggie and Lucy dot com for me to treat you to pre-Christmas round up, and equally one after Christmas, usually with the pre-Christmas entitled with a suitably Christmassy song lyric for you to guess and award yourself a point or ten. With the trip to Lapland taking 5000 words and nigh on 70 photos you may have to forgive me this year for not managing to keep this tradition and subsequent failure to squeeze in another essay before the big day (well actually before the equally traditional Bagnall Christmas message). Although I failed in writing this post before Christmas, I do not like to let you down so this may not be the most eloquent of posts for 2016, or indeed the lifetime of this website, nevertheless I thought that I had better impart the last few weeks of news before bringing you up to speed with the Bagnall’s Christmas celebrations. Read more →

It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees

Friday 18th December 2015Saturday 19th December 2015Baggie

I’m on a roll, you wait for ages for an update and then a second appears without warning! The previous revolved around mommy and daddy – for once – this one is back on track and is about the people you really want to read about: The Baguettes!

As one would expect for a write up around Christmas there is an awful amount of Christmas related shenanigans in the lives of the Bagnalls.

As per last year, our local garden centre, Vermeulens, opened their Santa’s grotto. This year it took on a little more of a personal significance. Vermeulens run the grotto for free but ask for donations for local charity and the charity chosen this year was Sam Beare Hospice who were so supportive with our family through Granddad’s illness. Indeed, it is the charity that we have raised money for on Granddad’s memorial page, (which you can find here).

Unfortunately, I was working on that weekend, so I couldn’t visit Santa with the girls and Ezra, but Lucinda met up with a couple of friends and their children so there was a big group of them going to ask Santa for all the gifts that you had no idea that they wanted and haven’t bought!

This first visit to Santa was the day after the first pantomime of the season. The local amateur dramatics society, the Riverside Players, put on a pantomime every year at the Memorial Hall in Old Windsor. This year was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Again, I was, unfortunately, working and so Lucinda took Éowyn and Amélie with Éowyn’s best friend Aaliyah (Ezra stayed at Nanny’s – he is a little too young to sit through a pantomime just yet). Amélie spent most of the show hiding under the chair, frightened of the Evil Stepmother – yet said how much she enjoyed it on her return. As with all of their performances, the Riverside Players pantomime was of an extremely high standard and enjoyed by all.

Since I was at work for both of those events, we needed to book up secondary events so that I could accompany the Baguettes, on my weekends off. Therefore the following Sunday morning we headed to Bocketts farm in deepest, darkest Surrey (Fetcham, near Leatherhead to be precise), to visit the Santa grotto there. Bocketts do not allow you to pre-book your visit to Santa; you turn up then allocated the next available slot to visit Santa.

Therefore, we set out nice and early Sunday morning to ensure that we were there as soon as Bocketts opened so that we could find ourselves in one of the early slots. Indeed, we turned up at 0915 and the girls were on the tractor-trailer (this is a grotto on a working farm) at 0930! The adults walked alongside the trailer for the short journey to the converted barn where Santa has set up his grotto.

You walk through to his straw lined room and plonk yourself on the hay bales arranged as seats in front of Santa. It was very well done, and he called each child (or group of children) up and opened his big book of presents and wrote their names down (even if he had a slight issue with our children’s names) and what presents they would like, before handing out a little present to them.

One aside to our visit was an event, which was a little strange and highlights the smallness of the world. A work colleague was looking through his Facebook timeline, when his niece’s husband posted a picture of their child’s visit to Santa. He looked at the photo and thought why is Baggie in that photo? Therefore, he reposted it on my timeline to confirm that it was indeed me. There, sitting on a hay bale next to Santa was my good self. His niece and her husband had taken their child to see Santa at the same time, and same place, as us. Two sets of strangers linked by a mutual acquaintance, mobile phone camera footage and social media. What a strange world that we live in.

So, two trips to Santa, one with daddy and one without; so it was with pantomimes. A second trip to the theatre beckoned, this time a ‘professional’ pantomime, Sleeping Beauty at Woking theatre. Again, Ezra stopped in with Nanny while Mommy and Daddy took Éowyn and Amélie, around the M25 deeper into Surrey.

The seats were up in the gods and although afforded us a good view was a little vertiginous! This was my first professional pantomime at a theatre as an adult. Apparently we used to go to the pantomime as children with my cousins, but I have to rely on Nanny Fran’s memory as I have no recollection of these big nights out. Obviously, I have seen amateur ones, my dad’s employers used to put them on for the families of the workers when I was a child. My dad was very much involved in the productions, indeed one year he was one of the ugly sisters in their production of Cinderella. Therefore, I am no stranger to the Pantomime but since we have kids I have been working in the weekends leading up to Christmas and so have not been able to attend this family tradition. Now, my job has changed and I am actually off at weekends there will be more of these in the future!

The other great tradition of this time of the year is the ubiquitous school nativity play. With two children of school age then that means two nativity plays to enjoy. However, Éowyn attends drama classes after school and thus there was an additional end of term performance to attend. With a stroke of fortune, or just good planning on the part of the school we were able to attend performances of all three plays on the same day.

Neither of the girls had starring roles, Éowyn had been asked to be a narrator but had declined because there were too many lines to read, and she was the narrator last year.

Amélie’s play was based around a Christmas tree and the toys that come to life on Christmas Eve. Amélie was a dancing doll and had a song to sing and a dance to perform – along with the other dancing dolls. You could see the concentration in her face and she was obviously enjoying it. With nearly 100 children, all with roles to play it is quite a testament to the teachers and staff that the play was so entertaining considering the ages of the children (4 and 5). The main issue was the number of parents that stood up throughout the play blocking the view of everyone else. There is an inherent selfishness in too many people. By all means, stand up and encourage your child, and take a photo if you want but half a thought for the other 100 people who are also there to see their child and would also like to take a photo. Indeed, one of the mothers gave another mother a piece of her mind regarding her inconsideration.

Éowyn’s play was entitled ‘Behind the stable door’ and told the story of the nativity from the point of view of the animals that had been kicked out of the stable to allow Joseph and Mary to spend the night. Éowyn was in the choir. Now, I love my daughter dearly but she is not the greatest of singers so it was a brave move by the casting director. Nevertheless, she sang her heart out and it sounded more than passable. Perhaps because the parents watching Éowyn’s play have sat through a number of nativity plays by the time they reach year 2, there was very little standing and blocking of views; much more consideration.

The third play of the day was Éowyn’s Sense Theatre production of a highly abridged version of Annie. Now I don’t want to be disparaging but considering that for an hour a week for the last 12 weeks they have been practising this, and the children there all want to do drama after school I felt that the two nativity plays that we saw earlier on in the day were much more polished. Is that a testament to the teachers and staff of the school or a slight on the drama teachers I am not sure. Saying that, there were some very good individual performances and Éowyn was definitely putting the effort in and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. Shame she didn’t have a bigger speaking part, but she was one of the youngest in that group. It will be interesting to see if she wants to continue with drama and whether she wants to take it any further. You will have to watch this space.

Therefore, after two quick updates, all before Christmas I had better leave you there so that you can look at the photos and put your feet up while you drink your mulled wine and eat your festive nuts.

Peace and Love

Baggie

P.S. As was the case last last year, the International Space Station will pass over the UK at approximately 1730 on Christmas Eve. Therefore, if there are clear skies you can look up and wave at the British astronaut Major Tim Peake as he hurtles through space. However, if there are any children reading, at 1730 Santa’s sleigh will be visible in the sky as he rushes to India to hand out presents to the good boys and girls in that part of the world.

P.P.S. One more little astronomical note: If you are younger than 38 this will be the first time that you will have seen a full moon on Christmas Day. The last time this happened was 1977 and the next one will not be until 2034. So, again, if the skies are clear take a peek at the moon after the Christmas festivities and marvel at its fullness. Is it any coincidence that the first Star Wars film was also released in 1977? Nah!

P.P.P.S. Any guesses for this year’s Christmas Lyric title? Award yourselves 25 points if you said River by Joni Mitchell.

Elf and Safety notice

Oi!

Mommy and daughters

Amélie and Santa

Éowyn and Ezra with Santa

A gift for Ezra

Sibling fun

Feed the goat

Fun on the swing

Motorbikin’

Brrrmmmm

This is fun

Ezra on the slide

Look at Ezra’s badge

Driving a tractor

Amélie

Making badges

Tractor fun

Let’s make a sandcastle

Meeting Santa

Snowman display

When it snows, ain’t it thrillin’, though your nose gets a chillin’

Monday 15th December 2014Wednesday 17th December 2014Baggie

I promised you a second update before the annual Bagnall message to the world, and here it is. I always try to keep my promises.

It seems an age since I updated you about Ezra, for some reason he has received short shrift on the pages of Baggie and Lucy over the last few months, mainly due to the changes affecting his sisters. Let me put that right.

As you may recall he has been walking since the end of August and so, as you can imagine, he is into everything. He has worked out that if he moves his little step-up that he can grasp things out of his usual reach. In that respect he is like Amélie in that he will acquire things. His favourites tend to be kitchen utensils; it is not usual to find sieves, saucepans and the potato masher ‘hidden’ around the house. However, it is not just kitchen utensils that he will swipe, I quite often find a variety of items (especially for some reason, mine) deposited around the house. There are not enough places, that are completely out of his reach, it is amazing how far he can stretch when he puts his mind to it.

He is usually quite laid-back and relatively mellow, although he occasionally has his moments. Nothing like the terrible twos, but if he is determined to do something (or not to do something) then he is a ball of furious energy. Thankfully, it is still quite rare although he has had to have timeout in his cot a couple of times. He can also be disarmed by offering to read him a book. His vocabulary is increasing daily and he seems to say a new word every day or so, but ‘book’ was one of his first words and certainly one of his favourites.

You can quite often find Ezra, sitting on the chair in his room ‘reading’ a book. If he wants you to read a book he will point for you to sit down, he will pick up a book and then back up towards you, inviting you to pick him up, put him on your lap and read the book. He knows what he wants and certainly has a way to make you do his willing. This can work to your advantage though for if he is upset or on the verge of an episode, you can disarm him, if you are quick enough, if you offer to read him a book. He will waddle off and fetch a book forgetting about whatever it was that was upsetting him two seconds earlier. Never underestimate the distraction technique.

Reading books is probably helping to contribute to his vocabulary increase. He knows his animals and the noises they make, especially when they have appeared in one of his books. It is leading to some confusion though, for every bird is a duck and of course they ‘quack’, except, of course cockerels that ‘Cock-a-doodle-do!’ I will explain the Avian family tree when he is a little older. His favourite book, however, is not about animals as such, although does have a cat, a dog, a frog and a green bird: Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. If you have not read it, I thoroughly recommend it; a classic!

Ezra, however, has missed out on a few events this past week or so. Both girls have had their ‘nativity’ (or possibly more accurately: Christmas) plays. Both had ‘named’ parts but far from starring roles. Amélie was the 3rd Inn-Keeper’s wife while Éowyn was Narrator 16.

Amélie is still at pre-school so there is no need for them to remember lines but they did learn a lot of songs and the actions to those songs. Amélie being one of the oldest of the class, was certainly one of the most vocal and also lead the actions. Being a pre-school at a Catholic school this was the ‘traditional’ nativity story, the story of Jesus’ birth, hence the 3rd Inn-Keeper, who may have had no rooms to let but wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to make a little bit extra and capitalised on the situation by selling space in a stable to a heavily pregnant woman. The true meaning of Christmas.

The pre-school were allowed to use the main school hall and as such there were plenty of seats for all the parents (and some grand-parents) indeed Nanny and Granddad managed to squeeze in with Mommy and Daddy to see their grand-daughter.

Éowyn’s play on the other hand was more secular, the story of Ralph The Reindeer. ‘Ralph?’ I hear you cry. Yes, Ralph the green-nosed freelance reindeer that steps in one Christmas when Rudolph has a cold. It was very enjoyable and with nigh on 180 pupils across the two years a serious amount of choreography had gone on to ensure that every child felt part of the production and at some point during the play was on stage. Relatively, there were very few speaking parts so although Éowyn was Narrator 16 the five lines that she had been give was a significant percentage of the script. Éowyn’s play had two performances to ensure that all parents had an opportunity to see their children, with Lucinda at work on the Thursday and Daddy looking after Amélie and Ezra, Nanny and Granddad went to the first performance while Mommy and Daddy waited until the Friday to see their eldest child’s performance. We were all very impressed with her. She pronounced her lines very clearly and although a little on the fast side – you could definitely tell what she was saying.

The other event that Ezra missed out on this last week, Daddy missed out on too, was the annual visit to the Pantomime. Ezra because he is a little too young (so he stopped with Nanny) and Daddy because, surprise, surprise, he was at work at the weekend. Last year Lucinda and Granddad took the girls to see ‘Puss In Boots’ performed by the Riverside Players at the Memorial Hall in Old Windsor. Apart from Amélie being terrified of the baddie they thoroughly enjoyed it, so this year Lucinda decided to take them again. This year’s pantomime was ‘Sleeping Beauty’. Again Amélie spent the first acts cowering into Lucinda, scared of the pantomime baddie, asking if they could go home. Éowyn on the other hand loved it and was enthralled by the story.

It is interesting how Amélie is fearless when it comes to things like roller coasters and scaling climbing frames, yet is terrified of pantomime baddies, yet Éowyn is the opposite. She may not be a fan of adrenalin fuelled fears yet is not afraid of more psychologically orientated fears that you would find in films or, in this case, pantomimes.

Amélie hasn’t been the only one cowering behind Mommy’s skirts this week. Lucinda took the kids to the local garden centre, Vermeulens, in Stanwell Moor. Like many garden centres at this time of the year, business is a little slow so they encourage the customers through the door with a Santa grotto and a chance to visit Santa. Lucinda thought as Daddy was at work that it would be nice to take them to visit Santa. Fearing that the queues would be out of the door she didn’t build their hopes up too much. She was completely surprised, however, that it was the exact opposite. It seems that word hadn’t reached the good people of Staines that their local garden centre had a grotto and there was not a soul waiting for Santa. The girls loved it and were more than happy to regale their list of toys that they would like, and apparently they are currently on the ‘nice’ list. Ezra, however, wasn’t so enamoured with Old Saint Nick. He cowered in fear but was still given a present and told he was a good boy. I trust he will grow out of it by next year!

The other great Bagnall Christmas tradition has also been performed, namely the creation of handmade Christmas Baubles at Genevieve’s Gallery in Englefield Green. This is the seventh year that we have been there to make at least one Christmas Bauble for our tree and one for Nanny Fran’s tree. They have always been a hand-print of each child and then annotated by Lucinda. That slightly changed last year as Éowyn’s hands have grown too large to decorate a bauble. So last year Éowyn was given free rein to make her own designs. Nanny Fran’s was an original Éowyn but she came up with a great idea for our tree: namely making a Mommy and Daddy bauble. This year, due to time constraints she was only able to add one more to the family, namely herself. Next year she will have to do one each to represent Amélie and Ezra.

Éowyn seems to be enjoying school a little more, maybe her first school disco helped, or maybe she is just settling down and making friends. Hopefully, with a break for Christmas and then returning after all the excitement it will just become part of the routine. I will take my leave of you here and as usual, ten sad points for you if you can recognise the Christmas ditty that the title of the update comes from. No prizes, just the smug pleasure of knowing the answer and for me, the smug pleasure of knowing that you will be humming it all day!

Peace and Love

Baggie

P.S. Four years ago our precocious first-born, Éowyn, demanded that we went to the shops to buy Toy Story 4, and it took a while to convince her that they had only made 3! Well the bods at Pixar (John Lasseter et al) have listened to their audience and Toy Story 4 is in the planning stage (you can read about it here). Personally, I am not sure that this is a good thing, the last movie ended the trilogy perfectly – indeed it is one of the best trilogies in film history with not a weak film among them – and to revisit that story feels wrong. However my fears maybe allayed when the film is released (16th June 2017), and I can guarantee that there will be a least one family of five that will be going to the cinema to see it.

Gallery to be update but it starts off like this…