Angel's Christmas

For a number of years, Ann and I have attended programs called Star P.A.K. written and directed by Kathleen Chapman with choreography by her daughter, Nancy Matossian. Our granddaughters, Hannah (now 12) and Rachel (now 10), were in these productions. The children are taught how to act, sing, dance, and do choreography in front of an audience which is very valuable training for their future. And it builds confidence.

We spent our time at these productions taking pictures of the program as it went along and tried to enjoy the event in between snaps of the camera. Afterward, we took a lot of pictures of the girls with Kathleen and Nancy. Ann is a genius on the computer making multi-page cards using the pictures we took. A set was also made for Kathleen and Nancy for their files.

Eventually, Kathleen gave us a front row seat for taking pictures which helped get the best shots of the entire production. We were a fixture on row one right next to the director, Kathleen Chapman.

As reported in May on this BLOG, our daughter, Brenda, went on a charity trip to Sumba, Indonesia for two weeks in April. She wrote up the story and gave me some pictures to put in the article that I posted. She told Kathleen about the BLOG item and when she looked it up, she saw two videos that I had made using what musical talent I have and this was a shock for her. She had no idea that I had done any acting or singing. She told me that I had to be in her next production.

Well, it happened on December 5, 2008 at Coast Hills Church in Aliso Viejo. I was Angel Gabriel and the only adult in the production of Angel’s Christmas. The angels were all dressed in white and I was in a white tux and white everything else. My two granddaughters were in it with major speaking parts and even sang one of the songs on the mikes. They had to interact with Angel Gabriel (me) which was a thrill for all of us. The story is about young angels wanting to know more about the birth of Jesus and they knew that Angel Gabriel was there that night - that Holy Night! So when I came over to discuss the event with them, they hit me with a lot of questions which I attempted to answer. I sang “O Holy Night” to them and they sang it with me after my solo.

Dick singing "O Holy Night" to the "angels" from his elevated chair!

Angel Gabriel listening to questions from the young angels.

As you can imagine, this was an event in my life that I will never forget. I was first to take the bow at the end and then the kids. Hannah and Rachel came over to me and we took the final bow in front of the cast as a favor to me from Kathleen.

Hannah, Dick, & Rachel taking our final bow with the cast.

Hannah, Kathleen Chapman, Dick, Nancy Matossian, and Rachel

Yes, lots of pictures were taken and some of them are here in this posting. The kids dad, Scott, takes video of these productions and he and Brenda take many digital pictures. This time Ann had to do the picture taking as I was on stage. Ann will make us all memory cards to remember the night Hannah and Rachel was in a production of Star P.A.K. with their grandfather.

Hannah, Dick (Angel Gabriel) and Rachel on Gabriel's chair.

The entire cast of "Angel's Christmas"

The kids in the production were very kind and warm to me and some even asked for my autograph on the program. I guess they thought of me as a celebrity. Thank you, Kathleen, for giving me the opportunity to be in one of your fabulous productions.