Christmas was celebrated with school children in Edmonton, Regina, and Vancouver on November 26th & 27th as part of a world wide event called the "Advent Pageant".

Advent Pageants are community Christmas celebrations where our children are the stars. Dressed up as characters of the Christmas story, they re-enact Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem. Shop owners play the role of Inn Keepers, and it become a fun and festive way to celebrate Christmas.

Advent Pageants were happening in countries all over the world, including Australia and South Africa. In Canada, Pageant took place in Regina, Edmonton, and Vancouver. Below are stories from each of those cities.

Vancouver

It was a pretty exciting moment for Vancouver, as we held our very first Advent Pageant this year.

We partnered with West Coast Christian School, Youth With a Mission, Kingsgate Mall, and The Vancouver Courier. There were around 80 of us parading around Kingsgate Mall, singing Christmas songs and looking for a place for Mary and Joseph to spend the night.

Kingsgate Mall is a small shopping centre with the desire to have a community focus. So they welcomed us in with big arms – and are already wanting to book us in for another pageant next year. The students at West Coast Christian School had been anticipating the pageant, and arrived with pretty excited faces, and amazing costumes. We’re anticipating working with them again next year, and are in conversation with three other schools about what it might look like to do a pageant in their community.

Regina

For the first year in the city children assembled in costume in the centre of Regina's downtown to share the Christmas story. The children from St. Timothy's 4/5 class and from Curtis-Horne Christian School paraded up the F.W. Hill Mall across through the Cornwall Centre and ending at the Royal Canadian Legion.

The children were delighted when City Police blocked the street so they could cross.

We finished the day off with a birthday cake for Jesus and festival activites including face painting, balloon sculpting, and 'What Time is it Mr. Wolf?'

One of the teachers involved later reported "Almost every parent commented on how their child enjoyed yesterday afternoon"

Part of the program included presenting approx. $180 to the Regina Open Door Society to provide recent arrivals a special gift for the holidays, Welcome cards were also completed by the children to be distributed to over 30 families.