Silent Night, Holy Night
Written by Deborah S. Anderson
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Summary: It is Christmas shopping season (Christmas Eve?) The scene is a department store window,
with shoppers outside. Two actors, representing Mary and Joseph, are on stage with a manger placed
between them. They freeze – since they represent a store window display. A series of shoppers pass by
and look at the display...
Style: Dramatic.
Duration: Approx 6 minutes
Actors: 1M, 1F, 6M/F
Characters
Mary
Joseph
6 shoppers
Script
Shopper 1: Oh, would you look at that! The store has its Nativity scene up!
Shopper 2: It’s more beautiful than last year!
Shopper 1: Yeah, of course, but they always do the same thing. I like seeing the windows that most of the
bigger stores have, there's something new and different every year!
Shopper 2: Speaking of downtown, have you been there? It’s so crowded; you have to have a reservation
to get a parking space! I drove around for hours before I found one. When I got out of the car, I realized
why no one else had taken the space; it was right next to the worse smelling dumpster I’ve ever had the
pleasure of meeting! Ugh. I can STILL smell those rotting vegetables and who knows what else?!
Shopper 1: Well, let’s get going, we’ve got places to go, gifts to buy!
Mary and Joseph “come to life.”
Joseph: Did you hear that? She’s complaining about not finding a parking space. Do you remember what
we went through the night Jesus was born? Talk about crowded!
Mary: Yes, we went all over Bethlehem that night looking for a decent place to stay before we registered
for the census. We THOUGHT we were only going to register for two!
Joseph: Who’d have thought that was the night he’d be born...
Mary: In a stable.
Joseph: That smelled.
Mary: That stunk!
Joseph: It WAS dry though, and as clean as could be expected. I was just grateful that we were allowed
to stay there.
Mary and Joseph freeze again.
Shopper 3: Hey look, isn’t that what’s-his-face?
Shopper 4: Yeah, I think so. "Baby Santa." I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the "legends of
Christmas."
Shopper 3: I don’t know, wasn’t there something about God in Christmas?
Shopper 4: Beats me. Besides, what’s God got to do with Christmas? It’s for families, and toys, and food,
and gifts, and decorations, and trees, and all the other good stuff!
Shopper 3: You’re right. I think some folks just want to make everything religious to make them feel good.
Hey! Do you hear what I hear?
Shopper 4: I can just barely make it out over the night wind...It's the special opening event bells! Hurry up!
We’re missing the big amazing 24 hour sale! Let’s go!
Mary and Joseph animated:
Mary: It’s no wonder that some folks have gotten it all confused. The night Jesus was born was nothing
short of miraculous.
Joseph: That’s for sure. Ha! Try telling those shepherds that God wasn’t involved in Christmas! The way
they tore down out of the hills and into Bethlehem, you’d think the almighty Himself was chasing them!
Mary: I think in a way, He did. Those angels can sure give you a fright! The shepherds said that there
were hundreds of them, all singing and praising God!! I only saw one, and it changed my entire life!
Joseph: Me too, but that’s what gets me. Why do they not think that is a good thing? The son of God
came to earth and I really can’t see anything better than that!
Mary: Neither can I. But I’m sure someone will remember. These lights and trees just don’t hold a candle
to the amazing beauty of that night.
Mary and Joseph freeze.
Shopper 5: Brrrrrrrr. It’s cold out here! Let’s go in for some hot chocolate.
Shopper 6: Sure, give me a minute. I want to look at the Nativity display. It just keeps getting better.
Shopper 5: What do you mean? It’s the same thing every year!
Shopper 6: Oh, I know. The ornaments are the same, the scene is the same, the setting is the same, and
even Joseph is beginning to look a little moth-eaten. But ever since last year, when I started going to that
church at Christmas, it’s somehow different.
Shopper 5: How?
Shopper 6: Well, it means something to me now. That night, those people, what happened... it happened
for me! Not just them, not just another holiday to celebrate, but something that was done for me – God
came to earth for ME!
Shopper 5: What makes you so special?
Shopper 6: Nothing. That’s just the point. God loved the whole world and everybody in it so much, that He
sent his son to tell us! Instead of coming as a big, terrifying, alien thing, he came as a man. Just like us.
Just for us. That's what the angels said to the shepherds!
Shopper 5: Really? How do you know? I mean, I don’t think he’d be interested in someone like me more
than 2000 years after it happened.
Shopper 6: Don’t you see? That’s the miracle! That’s the gift! We give gifts that wear out, that don’t last,
and that go out of style. God sent a gift that kept on giving! He sent His son to show us His love! And that
love didn’t just end because it happened so long ago. I know that. I know for certain that He loves ME!
Even now...so very long afterward. It is a real thing that love...
Shopper 5: So…do you think he loves me too?
Shopper 6: You bet! You want to go get that hot chocolate now? While we’re warming up before the rest
of our shopping, I’ll tell you about the greatest gift ever given, and how you can get it too!
Shopper 5: Does it require batteries?
Mary and Joseph animated:
Joseph: It’s just happened again! It never ceases to amaze me. He’s still is giving the gift, it’s still being
received, and we’re still here to see it!
Mary: Yes…it almost makes it bearable to be put back in storage until Christmas time next year.
Joseph: It’s too bad that they haven’t figured out that the gift can be given and received at any time. Not
just at Christmas.
Mary: Some do. But it IS kind of special when it happens this way. It truly becomes a Christmas
miracle…a special kind of miracle, once each year.
Joseph: Shhhhhh…. I think can hear the angels singing now…
Play Song: Silent Night