Progressive Christmas Pageant

I’ve heard a few versions of this from several sources over the past few weeks; I apologize for not giving others the credit they deserve:

Orchestrate a “progressive” Christmas pageant in which households choose a character, then decorate their garage or front porch or yard (depending upon climate and weather as significant factors) – and maybe an actor or two from the family – to portray that character’s part of the story. Others drive by during designated times and the pageant, as a whole, is presented! Some congregations are encouraging that each household have a take-away: coloring pages, cookies, etc.

Over the Hills and Everywhere: An Advent Liturgy is a script suitable to this version, offering a monologue for each of the major characters. Suggested congregational and/or choral singing can be included as is, recorded ahead of time and shared via speakers at each location, or omitted.

A variation of this is choosing a part of the story – break the Nativity Story from Luke and Matthew into parts and let households choose a part to portray: different characters are played by different people throughout and part of the fun is seeing how different families choose to portray the same characters. Again, a take-away from each house is a fun inclusion.