The town square is alive, packed with families and vendors
selling street food. A Christmas tree of
tall poles and lighted spheres stands in the corner of the stage illuminating
the space. The celebration begins with Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters
on the stage dancing and singing Christmas songs with the kids brave enough to
play with the giant creatures until the characters are ready to collapse in the
hot costumes and they take a break.
Chairs are set up within feet of the five-foot tall
stage. Moms, dads, grandparents and kids sit silently, listening intently to
the characters in the pageant. All of
the traditional ones are on stage, angels with halos glowing, shepherds,
wisemen, Mary and Joseph, and of course, baby Jesus in the manger.
We’re pretty sure that we know this story so our attention
strays to mostly people watching on this balmy 75-degree night when suddenly this
rendition takes a turn and grabs our attention.
The shepherds form two lines on either side of the chief angel. It becomes evident that the good shepherds
stand on his right and the bad shepherds are to his left as each side take
turns explaining what Christmas is all about.
The chief angel is mediating their disagreement with a lot of “no no” or
“si si” when suddenly firecrackers are thrown on to the stage. Amongst the smoke and explosions the devil
appears with a small, Peter Pan-like assistant devil so cute he almost steals
the show. The big devil begins talking about presents and the bad shepherds
pull out bottles of Tequila and start gulping.
The message was as clear as the empty bottles. Both sides argue over the
meaning of Christmas while the adorable Peter Pan devil hops, jumps, skips and
darts about the stage so light on his feet that you just know he’s going to fly
away any minute. He had the time of his life.
The evening ends with the good shepherds chasing away the devil
and his accomplice as familiar Christmas melodies sung in Spanish blast from a
gigantic speaker next to the stage. It
was a Christmas pageant like none other.
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