*The following was written in 2019. It has not been modified, but is reposted prior to Bellflower’s 100th annual Christmas Eve program.
BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Maybe the gymnasium at Bellflower Elementary School should have been torn down years ago.
The bleachers are shallow, the gym floor isn’t sticky, the small windows are covered with black plastic, the ceiling paint is peeling and the only sign hanging on the walls lets spectators know that the Dragons went to the IESA Elite 8 in boys’ basketball in 1979.
Today, the building which once housed young students, is used as a community center. Old class photos hang in the cafeteria and the doors are open, especially when someone needs a place to cool down in the summer or warm up in the winter.
The stage at one end of the gymnasium floor still has operating curtains, the letter “B” stands out in white at the top of the stage, the speaker system has not always been part of the outfit, but homemade decorations and costumes for the productions always have.
While the whole world searched for a way to welcome and honor the upcoming Christmas Day, Bellflower, which currently has about 370 residents, did what they have done for 97 years on Dec. 24: held a Christmas pageant.
Maybe the whole town wasn’t there, but cars and trucks lined the streets that surrounded the building. A man pushing a woman in a wheelchair caught the greeting of someone they knew and everyone chuckled about how a 40-degree Christmas Eve is their “type of weather.”
The metal chairs that lined the floor were filled with moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, but there were also townspeople who may have played a part in the production decades ago. Some spectators sat on the backless grey bleachers while children dressed as angels and shepherds ran through the hallways awaiting the 7 p.m. call time.
A woman wearing a red sweater tapped on the microphone while a high-pitch hum caught the attention of the crowd. She talked about the candlelight service at the Bellflower United Methodist church at 8:30 p.m. while the Christmas tree to her right flashes yellow, pink, blue and green lights.
For years, the town of Bellflower has honored those who make their town a better place to live. This year they paused to take note of a woman who helps with music programs and shares meals with the community and a man who is on the transplant list, hoping he might see another Christmas.
The lights remained bright so that guests could read the back of their program, which had the lyrics to classic Christmas songs: “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” Jingle Bells,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “Silver Bells.” All 150 guests sang in unison before the main event.
Instead of a pastor standing up to retell the story of the first Christmas or to offer perspective on the meaning of Christmas, the lights dimmed and the curtains to the stage opened transporting spectators to a brown paper desert with Mary and Joseph of Nazarene.
The same brown paper desert backdrop is used as the characters travel to Bethlehem and Jerusalem. The only thing that changes is a wooden sign that tells the audience which city Mary and Joseph are in. The change doesn’t happen when the curtains are closed, though. Adults who were backstage just changed the signs in the middle of a scene.
Grown men take the stage with notecards to help them remember their lines and the children they tend to hold their necks. Two women play the part of the “old star” and the “new star” while a young mother (Mary) and father (Joseph) cradle their newborn baby (Jesus) after they remove him from the manger, which also holds a car seat.
A microphone is passed from actor to actor so the audience can hear, but when the little angels take the stage, the play director places three microphones at the height of their face, making it a perfect target for the young children to really make their voices shine.
Once Jesus is born, the three wise men bring gifts and the shepherds, one of which still has a pacifier, kneel to worship the newborn king.
The 30-minute production came to a close with the man in a red sweater doing a duet with the woman who was honored earlier in the show.
The actors filled the stage singing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” while some of the children were picked up and held by the adults on stage.
Maybe it would have been enough to end the night with “Joy to the World”, but then Santa and Mrs. Claus burst through the back doors.
The angels, who were exiting the stage via the stairs on the front of the stage, gleamed and one mother held her toddler up to see the action. The toddlers pointed her chubby arm toward the man in the red suit who was singing “Ho Ho Ho” from his belly.
The looks on the children’s faces were just about as joyful as the adults’ faces as they left the building. A crew of three-handed out paper lunch bags filled with an orange, loose gum drops and old-fashioned ribbon candies.
They hugged their friends before they passed out the bags and wished everyone, even strangers, “Merry Christmas.”
Maybe the gymnasium at Bellflower Elementary should have been torn down years ago … but then, maybe, there’s something magical about the tradition.
