An unexpected mutton

At the request of Dylan and Dan, here is the story of the unexpected mutton.

Elisabeth was selected (by age, not ability) to be a sheep for the Christmas pageant at our church. Along with one other three-year-old, she was to crawl onto the stage, look at the baby in the manger, sit quietly through a few songs and then leave the stage with the older children.

We rehearsed the day before the pageant, and Elisabeth was able to follow the other sheep in all their responsibilities. She was timid, but able to do it.

All that changed on the night of the performance. We found seats stage right (from which this picture was taken), although Elisabeth was to enter stage left. (That was the first mistake.) After the congregational hymns, I made my way to the other side with Elisabeth. As soon as we sat down on the floor next to the other sheep, Elisabeth burst into tears and started crying, "I want Mommy!" loud enough to distract all the people around us, but not loud enough to alert Mommy on the other side of the chapel.

We made a hasty exit out the back and were able to regain our composure before coming back in. When we walked in, we saw the other little sheep crawling onto the stage. So I hustled to the front and scuttled Elisabeth into the wake of sheep number 1. Elisabeth crawled timidly onto the stage, and then realized that I wasn't there. She froze and started crying.

All of my mutton instincts kicked in, and I crawled up onto the platform on all fours and took Elisabeth by the hand. There I knelt, quietly hiding behind Elisabeth while the actors (quite amazingly) went on with their lines. However, I could feel the eyes of the audience on the large, earless sheep. So I quietly crawled (very sheeplike) off the stage and back to my seat. However, it wasn't long before little sheep realized that Daddy sheep had left, and she took the same exit back into my lap.

This was the humble beginning of Elisabeth's theatrical career - and the pinnacle of mine.