Christmas
Assembly
Introduction
For many people, Christmas is all about the presents. This assembly hopes to get
your students thinking more about the giving rather than the receiving, with
some help from the original Father Christmas – St Nicholas himself!
For more information about Oxfam’s “Unwrapped” campaign, go to any Oxfam
shop, or visit online at:
www.oxfam.org.uk/shop/oxfam-unwrapped
Preparation
In preparation you will need to wrap three presents: two should be something
nice (chocolates are good), one should be a box containing fertiliser (or just soil
from the garden).
Find one or two students with good reading voices who are willing to deliver the
Assembly Script (page 4 below), and two more who are good at drama and willing
to perform the Interview with Father Christmas sketch (page 6). This can be read
from the script but make sure they have time to practise so they read fluently.
Have a run-through in the hall or wherever you are going to hold the assembly,
and if you are going to use microphones, then practise with them as well or your
performers could be surprised or unnerved by the sound of their own amplified
voices.
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Instructions
Create the right atmosphere by having some Christmas music playing as the
students enter. You could wear a Santa hat, wave a sprig of holly (be careful) or
mistletoe (be even more careful) and offer Christmas crackers to some of the
students in the front row.
Begin by asking everyone what presents they are hoping for this Christmas, and
take a few answers.
Invite three students up to the front to receive a present. Pick students who have
been studying particularly well, or just three students that you know will
respond entertainingly. You know the ones.
Give the two genuine presents out first and then the fertiliser so that it’s the last
to be opened. You could even wrap it in several layers to give the recipient a
struggle.
Ask the three students for their reactions to the presents: “Are you happy with
your gift? No? Why not?”
Now hand over to your volunteers to read the Assembly Script. Make sure you are
ready to show the film at the appropriate point!
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Film Digest
Christmas in a Gutter (1:58)
Theme: Jobs and Money
Topic: Poverty
TrueTube takes to the streets to ask if
Christmas makes people think more about
those who live in poverty. The general public
answer questions concerning how guilty they
feel around the seasonal celebrations for the
homeless, those less fortunate and the poor.
Resources
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Digital projector (connected to the internet or you will need to download
the films beforehand).
Microphones (if needed, or available).
A volunteer to read the Assembly Script.
Two more volunteers.
Enough copies of the Assembly Script for you and for each of your
volunteers.
Christmas music.
Christmas props e.g. a Santa hat, holly, mistletoe, crackers etc.
A Santa hat and false beard (or full costume if you can get hold of one) for
the sketch An Interview with Father Christmas.
Three wrapped presents – two containing something nice (chocolate?) and
one containing a small box of fertiliser.
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Assembly Script
What does Christmas mean to you? Presents? Eating so much you can’t move?
More presents? Watching the Christmas specials on TV? Even more presents?
Would Christmas still be Christmas without the presents?
Oxfam are running a campaign called Unwrapped when people can spend
anything from a fiver to a few thousand pounds on a gift for someone that they
do not receive. Instead they get a card explaining that the present has gone to
someone else. Someone in the developing world.
For instance, for a fiver, you could buy some fertiliser. A farmer will dig it into
the soil to help his crops grow. He’ll be able to produce more food to feed his
community and more food to sell. For some people, a gift of fertiliser would be
just what they wanted.
For six pounds, you could make sure a child gets a health check and proper
medical care from trained doctors and nurses. For some people, a gift of
medicine would be just what they wanted.
For eight pounds, you could buy three plastic buckets with lids that can be used
to carry and store life-giving water. For some people, a bucket would be just
what they wanted.
You could buy a goat, train a teacher, build a toilet or drill a bore hole that will
provide a steady water supply for a whole village.
But how would you feel on Christmas morning if you opened a card that said a
present had been sent to a community in Africa instead of being given to you?
Many charities run campaigns at Christmas – because it’s a time when people
think about those less fortunate than themselves. Or do they?
Show the film Christmas in a Gutter
Many people seem to have forgotten the true message of Christmas, so it’s over
to our special guest for a reminder...
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Perform the sketch An Interview with Father Christmas.
So when you’re ripping the paper off your presents on Christmas morning, or
when you’re stuffing yourself with mince pies, turkey and Christmas pudding,
remember that not everyone will be having a happy Christmas this year.
Remember why St Nicholas started to give out presents in the first place –to
remember God’s gifts to the world, to enjoy giving, and to help other people.
Happy Christmas!
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An Interview with Father Christmas
Interviewer:
We have a very special guest this morning who has taken time
out from his very busy schedule to talk to us. It’s Father
Christmas himself! Santa, thank you so much for sparing the
time to come here today.
Santa:
[In deep, jolly voice] Ho ho ho, not a bit of it, ho ho ho! [in
“normal” voice] Look, do you mind if I drop the jolly act? It’s
exhausting. And I’ll take this off too, it’s torture. [He removes the
beard and scratches his chin.] Ah, that’s better.
Interviewer:
This must be a very busy time of year for you.
Santa:
You have no idea.
Interviewer:
Could you take us through a typical day at the North...
Santa:
[Interrupting] I mean it was fine until the elves formed a trade
union: insisting on better pay and conditions, 35 hour week,
four weeks’ holiday a year, maternity leave, paternity leave,
pension...
Interviewer:
Can I start by asking about your name?
Santa:
...Health insurance. I mean, health insurance! They’re elves for
Pete’s sake! Magical people! They don’t even get ill.
Interviewer:
What should I call you? Father Christmas? Santa Claus? Santa?
Mr Claus?
Santa:
Call me Nick.
Interviewer:
Nick?
Santa:
Nick. It’s my name. People call me different things all around
the world, but my name is Nick. It’s a bit like Batman and Bruce
Wayne, Spiderman and Peter Parker. Santa Claus is my secret
identity, Nick is my name.
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Interviewer:
And where do you live? The North Pole? Lapland? Norway?
Santa:
Turkey.
Interviewer:
Turkey?
Santa:
Turkey. Look, are you going to repeat everything I say?
Interviewer:
Everything you say? ...No. Sorry.
Santa:
I originally come from Turkey. I still have a home there. On the
coast. I rarely get there these days, what with all the trade union
disputes. Chance would be a fine thing. No, I work up north –
anywhere there’s lots of snow.
Interviewer:
Lots of snow? [Santa gives the interviewer a hard stare] Sorry.
Santa:
Yes, the reindeer insist on snow. They have a union too.
Interviewer:
While we’re on the subject of reindeer, how exactly do they fly?
Santa:
[Ignoring the question] A union too. Snow, free hay, weight
restrictions on the sleigh – I’ve had to go on a diet. I was a stone
over the limit.
Interviewer:
So how did you get into the gift-giving business?
Santa:
Well I was a Bishop in Turkey. Great job. Beautiful cathedral,
lovely gaff, nice hat. But there were a lot of poor people around,
you see, and it didn’t seem right, you know, having all that stuff
when people were going hungry.
Interviewer:
So what did you do?
Santa:
Well, there was this bloke. His wife had died and he was trying
to bring up three daughters all by himself, and he wasn’t
managing very well. So I dropped some coins down his
chimney.
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Interviewer:
Down his chimney? Sorry. But why didn’t you just knock the
door and hand him the money?
Santa:
Well I was a Bishop, yeah? We’re supposed to follow the Bible,
yeah?
Interviewer:
Yeah.
Santa:
Well it says in the Bible that you should give to charity in secret
so that you’re giving for the right reasons.
Interviewer:
And what are the right reasons?
Santa:
You should give because you want to. Because you want to help
someone, not because you want people to think what a
wonderful bloke you are.
Interviewer:
Okay, so you dropped the money down the chimney...
Santa:
And his daughters... I said the bloke had three daughters,
yeah?... his daughters had been doing the washing. They’d
hung their stockings up by the fire to dry and, stone me, you’ll
never guess what happened.
Interviewer:
The money fell down the chimney and into the stockings?
Santa:
Oh.... yes. Rod for my own back really. Now everyone expects
the whole chimney routine. All that soot plays havoc with my
asthma. And dry cleaning bills you wouldn’t believe. You can’t
just put this clobber in the wash you know. The dye runs. Turns
everything pink.
Interviewer:
What if people don’t have a chimney?
Santa:
[Ignoring the question] Turns everything pink. So I started to
deliver gifts to other people around my home, then the whole
town and before I knew it, I was delivering presents to the
whole world. It became a full time job, finding out who wants
what, getting all the presents together, planning the route. The
logistics are a nightmare.
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Interviewer:
How do you manage to visit every single home in just one
night?
Santa:
[Ignoring the question] The logistics are a nightmare. I had to give
up Bishopping altogether. I spend the whole year getting ready
for Christmas.
Interviewer:
Don’t you enjoy Christmas?
Santa:
Oh don’t get me wrong. I love it really. It’s just...
Interviewer:
Yes?
Santa:
Well, it just that people have got it round the wrong way.
Interviewer:
What do you mean?
Santa:
All they seem to worry about is what they get, how much they
get. It’s a tough job keeping up with the demand. No one’s
happy with a tangerine anymore. It’s all computers, consoles
and the latest craze. And I don’t mind, not really, but it’s all
they think about. When I was a Bishop, I gave people gifts
because I wanted to help them, I wanted them to feel good at
Christmas, not because I expected anything in return. It’s how
the whole secret identity thing began – people couldn’t find me
even if they wanted to.
Interviewer:
So you want everyone to have a secret identity? Wear masks?
Santa:
Don’t be daft. It’s all about having an attitude.
Interviewer:
You have an attitude all right.
Santa:
Don’t be cheeky. The attitude should be, “What can I give?” not
“What can I get?” It’s the Christmas Spirit, innit? It’s all about
giving: God gave Jesus to the World, the Wise Men gave Jesus
their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
Interviewer:
What is myrrh exactly?
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Santa:
[Ignoring the question] Gold, frankincense and myrrh. So it’s a
time of year when people should be giving, thinking of others,
helping out where they can. Of course, if everyone gives, then
everyone receives too. Poetry that is. And a good principle for
life, if you ask me. Anyway, that’s how it all started when I was
Bishop back in the 4th century.
Interviewer:
Just how old are you?
Santa:
[Ignoring the question] Back in the 4th century. Well that’s your
five minutes – my media people are very strict about this kind
of thing. Everyone gets five minutes. I’ll just get back into
character, and then I’ll be off. I’ve got a meeting. The Elves’
Union wants to negotiate overtime pay. [He sticks his beard back
on, and adopts the jolly, deep voice.] Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to one and all!
Interviewer:
Thank you, Santa Claus.
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