Dear Parents,
The first and second graders are hard at work learning their music for their Christmas program. This year on December
19, 2011, they will be performing the show A Christmas Carol: Scrooge in Bethlehem. “It is a delightful adaptation of
Dickens’ tale. In the story, Scrooge is the Bethlehem innkeeper who refuses shelter to Mary and Joseph on that first
Christmas night. When God sends three angels to Scrooge, the wretched man is forced to search his soul. His final
redemption reflects the promise of salvation for all, both poor and rich, in the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.” (Anna
Laura Page and Jean Anne Shafferman)
Costumes really help bring the production to life and make performing it special for the students.
The story they are performing is a mixture of a Biblical time and mid 19th Century, so it is hard to go one way or the
other completely with the costumes. Therefore, I would like both time periods to be represented. Please see below for
your child’s costume. Some costume items will be supplied for speakers and characters. Please see my teacher’s page
for pictures of costume ideas.
Shepherds and Townspeople: Please choose which one you would like be. Shepherds need to wear a Biblical robe that
is neutral colored (nothing bright or flashy). The easiest way to do this is to wrap a bed sheet or material around and
secure with a rope around the waist or safety pins. A headpiece is optional. Townspeople should wear nice clothes but
keep the colors plain and simple. Boys can wear newsboy hats and vests and girls can wear long skirts and drape a shawl
around their shoulders. Simple scarves can be worn. (Think about the movie A Christmas Carol and what they wore. I am
not looking for realistic 19th century costumes but anything that might help give it that feeling.)
Narrators: Dressed nicely in today’s clothing.
Readers: Choose between Shepherds or Townspeople
Scrooge: All black clothing
Bob Cratchit: Tan or brown pants, white shirt
Tiny Tim: Tan or brown pants, white shirt
Mrs. Cratchit: Long skirt, white shirt, shawl (motherly looking)
Angels: White robe, wings and halo
Mary: I have a blue Mary robe and headpiece
Joseph: I have a brown Joseph robe
Manger Animals: I have the animal hats and vests, please wear plain neutral colored shirt and pants
Clock Bell Ringers: Choose between Shepherds or Townspeople
If you have any of these costume items you will not be using for your own child and we could borrow for another
student, please let me know (email), it would be greatly appreciated! I am also looking for a manger bed (cradle) and a
baby Jesus (doll), and a child’s sized crutch.
I hope your student is getting excited about the production. They all have a very important role for the production.
They will be performing two times on Monday the 19th at 9:30am for the school and 7:00pm for the parents and family
in the SPX gym. For the school performance, students will need to come dressed in their costume. They may bring their
gym clothes to change into after the performance to help keep their performance clothes clean for the evening
performance. For the evening performance they should come dressed in their costume and arrive at their classroom
between 6:30 and 6:45. It is important that students be on time, but the doors WILL NOT be opened before 6:30pm.
Thanks for all of your help and support with this production. For some of these students it is their very first production.
Performing can be very exciting and fun for students at this age and I hope they really enjoy it!
If you have any questions or concerns about the Christmas program or costumes, please feel free to email me.
Thank you,
Miss Karen Sinagra
ksinagra@cdeducation.org