INNISFAIL - An hour before the annual Christmas concert at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School Diana Bushell is feeling confident.
The school's music and band teacher has directed the event eight times and she knows how important it is for the school, students and community.
“I am feeling good. I am not super stressed out or worried about anything. I know it is going to go well,” said Bushell. “The kids always do a really good job. I just try to be as organized as I can be, that everything in the gym that needs to be there is there.”
The special evening on Dec. 14 began with 10 band performances from students in pre-kindergarten all the way up to Grade 9, and included the Grade 3 class performing We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Silent Night and Away in a Manger on hand bells, with Deanna Ly and Justin Ma-Phan on flute. There was also the Grade 4 class bringing out the ukuleles to treat the packed gym audience with renditions of O Christmas Tree and Joy to the World.
“They are just as good as in any other year. It is really cool always seeing the progress from when we start, learning our pieces,” said Bushell, who began organizing the evening in mid-November. “There is a lot of work to do, and by the end they have progressed so much that I am really impressed and surprised at how far they have come.”
The band performances led to the play finale – The Birth of Christmas, a marvelously performed 30-minute production that was written by Grade 9 student Carson Rafuse, the second time he has created the school Christmas play.
The Birth of Christmas is a classic retelling of the first Christmas, of the birth of Jesus Christ. Narrated by students Julia Shokeir and Makayla Urbinsky, the production began with the background of how Mary found out she was to be conceived by the Holy Spirit, how Joseph found out, the couple's marriage, their journey to Bethlehem, and then the birth of Jesus and the visits by the shepherds, angels and the three wise men.
“It kind of covers the whole Christmas story,” said Bushell.
Impeccably produced and performed, Rafuse's The Birth of Christmas became a magical moment and finale for the evening, proving Bushell's pre-show confidence was right on the mark, and an evening that will not be forgotten by school officials, parents, and most of all, the students.
“I think a big event like this, a Christmas concert, is something a lot of kids will remember forever. Those are the memories that really stick with you,” she said before the performance. “It is valuable for the things they have learned musically, of course, and the things they have learned about Christmas: its true meaning and what that is all about.”
Diana Bushell, music and band teacher
"I think a big event like this, a Christmas concert, is something a lot of kids will remember forever. Those are the memories that really stick with you."
