THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Almost 4,0000 students, their teachers and parents were treated last week to my son's Derek's latest  play called "There's No L in Christmas."

The cast of actors, ranging in age from 7 to 13, captivated seven audiences over a three day period with a most creative and meaningful version of the Nativity story.

Terry and I were pleasantly surprised that two of the lead actors, the parents of the teenage star of the play, were named Terry and Mike in a story line that even included the mention of the passing of my mother.

To be sure, it was not your conventional Christmas play as the 26 member cast included three juvenile delinquents, two nuns dancing to a Rick Astley song, and a refugee innkeeper who couldn't speak English.

And of course any play aimed at 10 to 12 year olds comes with a huge helping of jokes like, "How does Jesus differ from a pizza? Jesus can't be topped," and " Need some help building that ark? I Noah man."

The actual play is about a teenage girl named Elle who returns home from university for the Christmas holidays to find a letter informing her that she has not properly completed her compulsory 40 hours of community service and that unless she can volunteer by the end of December, she will be ineligible to return to her second semester studies.

Desperate to find volunteer hours, she reluctantly takes on the task of directing a Christmas play at the local church. No longer a church goer herself, she finds it difficult to open the door to something she held dear as a young child but she's pragmatic enough to realize that those 40 hours of service trump her discomfort with the trappings of the Catholic Church.

Elle does a masterful job getting her rag tag team of actors ready for the play and on the night of the big show everything runs smoothly until the refugee innkeeper mistakenly welcomes Mary and Joseph into his establishment for the night.

Elle is devastated by this unlikely turn of events but later realizes that the welcoming of Mary and Joseph into the inn is the true story of Christmas and that the innkeeper was only paying it forward as a result of his own recent 'welcome to Canada' experience. Indeed the underlying message of the play is that of welcoming others into our life without reservation and at the same time, taking down walls that separate us as countries, as neigbours and even as family members.

At the conclusion of the play, Elle tells her mother to start calling her by her given name, Noel, as the No L Christmas girl takes down her own barriers and becomes a gift to her family and an inspiration to all to be more open to others and to the spirit of Jesus this Christmas season.