This story was in the BBC news. I thought it might be a good starter for a thread about things children do at Christmas, funny stories,etc.

Nativity Crisis at Smallest School
There is a Teachers' website that I go to. Some hilarious stories there about the Nativity Play
eg:" Our King just gave 'Frankenstein' to the baby Jesus in our dress rehearsal. Main event Monday, hugely relying on the 'cute factor' to get us through! "
"One year all was going well, which was good as it was all being filmed, but then one of our narrators spotted his Nanny and yelled 'Nanny have you got me sweets?" down the microphone. Raucous laughter from audience and hysterical crying from Angel Gabriel who had been about to speak and thought they were all laughing at her. Another year we had a Mummy get up on the stage no less than 4 times in half an hour to wipe her own child's nose. Then there was the year that Mary dropped the dolly Jesus on his head and Joseph then kicked him off the stage.... . "
"We did our dress rehearsal this afternoon, with grandparents watching as we can only assign 2 tickets per child for the main event. Highlights included Mary taking the baby Jesus with her to Bethlehem even though He wasn't born yet, she refused to let go of him. Then Mary, Joseph and the baby were supposed to walk up and down the stage whilst we sang a song called 'donkey plodding' only got a bit entwined and ended up with Mary leading the donkey with Joseph following some distance behind. Rounded off with a couple of fighting shepherds and some tears from the 'stars'. Still they looked cute in their costumes!

Last year we did a play called 'The Inkeepers Breakfast'. Ben our inkeeper was supposed to give a plate of 'food' to (lets call him) Tom Smith. Sadly Tom was ill on the day of the performance. I explained to Ben just to give the plate to another child, but he forgot because when we got to that part he looked confused, then started shouting "where's Tom Smith? I'm supposed to give it to Tom Smith". Stand-in child tried to take it and Ben snatched it back going "nooooooooo it's for Tom". The parents thought it was hilarious though."
The funniest nativity story was a colleague's 4yr old daughter coming home v upset as her friend was an angel in the play but she was only a radiator. Mum v confused later found out she had meant narrator!!
Anyone who wants to read more go to :
http://community.tes.co.uk/forums/t/367860.aspx?PageIndex=4

These are priceless, Ren. Thanks for sharing.

I'm running an after-school program this year, and since the daycare as a whole had a Christmas concert, we had to be part of it. My kids are all in school, and therefore have other concerts and performances- not just their school one, but Brownies, dance class, etc. On the whole, my group were not too interested, and not very willing to practice. I knew that I'd have a poor turnout, so deliberately chose a song that everyone could participate in, whether they knew the words or not. I picked "Six White Boomers", about Santa using kangaroos for his run in Australia, so that the kids could just jump up and down like kangaroos, and yell out the chorus. They all made kangaroo ears out of construction paper, and I figured we were more or less set.

So the evening of the concert came, and none of the three or four kids who actually knew the song and had practiced a bit were there. Two children whom I hadn't even told about the concert WERE there - they weren't supposed to be, but their mother had to go to Afghanistan on short notice, and dad was using daycare more heavily than usual. I had one girl who knew the song, and could read well enough to read the words she didn't quite know, one boy who refused to have anything to do with it until he was told that Santa would be there, and an autistic boy who sometimes has a screaming meltdown when he has to go within fifty feet of the gym where the concert was being held.

Halfway through the song, the two kids who weren't supposed to be there had to leave - their dad appeared at the back of the stage frantically gesturing at his watch. The autistic boy did go on stage, but wouldn't face the audience - he stayed at the very back, facing the back of the stage and bouncing all by himself.

So the songs are over, and here comes Santa. Some parents started to leave a little early, only to find that the school janitor had locked us in - they could go outside, but couldn't go through the school to get to the daycare where their children's coats were. We were in the middle of our recent cold snap - the temp was minus 35 with a windchill of minus 48. Finally an older brother scaled the locked gate and got the keys from the daycare.

All in all, a successful concert.

Lol!! Agony I had a good laugh! Poor you.

Agony, that is priceless! Makes you think, doesn't it? Poor kid with his back to the audience. Were his parents there?
Whenever you plan ANYTHING involving children...Well, you know.

Happy Holidays! You certainly deserve it!