ICC’s Abriendo Camino School put on their annual Christmas program on Friday, December 9th, for an enthusiastic audience of family members and friends. Along with songs and dances from the youngest grades, the students presented a drama based upon Max Lucado’s children’s story You are Special. The story goes like this…
The Wemmicks were small wooden people. Each of the wooden people was carved by a woodworker named Eli. His workshop sat on a hill overlooking their village. Every Wemmick was different. Some had big noses, others had large eyes. Some were tall and others were short. Some wore hats, others wore coats. But all were made by the same carver and all lived in the village. And all day, every day, the Wemmicks did the same thing: They gave each other stickers. Each Wemmick had a box of star stickers and a box of gray dot stickers. Up and down the streets all over the city, people could be seen sticking stars or dots on one another.
The pretty ones, those with smooth wood and fine paint, always got stars. But if the wood was rough or the paint chipped, the Wemmicks gave dots. The talented ones got stars, too. Some could lift big sticks high above their heads or jump over tall boxes. Still others knew big words or could sing very pretty songs. Everyone gave them stars.
Some Wemmicks had stars all over them! Every time they got a star it made them feel so good that they did something else and got another star. Others, though, could do little. They got dots.
Punchinello was one of these. He tried to jump high like the others, but he always fell. And when he fell, the others would gather around and give him dots. One day, Punchinello met a Wemmick named Lucia who didn’t have any dots or stars. He asked her why, and she told him to go see Eli in his workshop to find out.
When Punchinello nervously entered the workshop, Eli called Punchinello over by name and explained that the stickers would only stick if they were important to him. But, Punchinello shouldn’t think that the stickers from the other Wemmicks are important because he was loved and accepted by his creator, Eli. What Eli thought of Punchinello should be more important than what the other Wemmicks thought about him. Punchinello was astonished by this idea, but wasn’t sure if he could change. Eli encouraged Punchinello to come by his workshop every day to be reminded of how special and loved he was. As Punchinello left the workshop that day, one of his gray dots fell to the ground.
The Abriendo Camino students were fantastic Wemmicks, giving out stars and dots based upon their performances. At the end of the play, Pastor Jose Figueroa addressed the audience, asking them if they could identify with Punchinello as much as he could and challenging them to look for acceptance and love in the Creator during the holiday season. We have turned Christmas into a time of giving and receiving things in order to feel better about ourselves by making good impressions on others, but we always go away feeling empty. Jesus Christ came into this world to give love and hope to all who would accept Him, irregardless of how we measure up. Our perspective can be changed if we accept the Heavenly Father’s invitation to spend time with Him everyday and be reminded of who we are in His eyes.
The evening closed with the students singing “Happy Birthday, Jesus” and a lively celebration dance, giving the parents plenty of photo opportunities. Here are a few of our favorite pictures of the evening:
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