Happy Christmas!

[thalialunacy2]

For you, my f'list, my livejournal lurkers, and the internet at large, here is a gift. Completely unauthorized, but also not for profit: me reading one of my favorite books of all time.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
by Barbara Robinson

chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5 | chapter 6 | chapter 7

(Or, here's a zip file of the whole thing, 71 minutes total.)

From the grape juice for communion to the preacher's son always hating being Joseph to the burned applesauce cake, this book is near and dear to my childhood. You can either listen and connect to it as you relive your own, or listen and understand me--and a very large sect of American culture--a little bit more. Yes, it's religious, but you can ignore that if you want, or enjoy it if you want. Bottom line, it's effing hilarious. ('SHAZAM!')

Recording it was quite an experience. I laughed so hard I cried, more than once. And then at the end I just... cried.

HEY. UNTO YOU A CHILD IS BORN.

♥

Comments

[vaudy.livejournal.com]

It's funny; I don't remember ever visiting my Arkansas relatives for Christmas, but I know I must have one time, because I distinctly remember my uncle (Southern Baptist preacher) reading this book to my cousins and me. I also remember being kind of excited to learn that it was a book, because I had grown up on the TV-movie version. Also funny--about a week ago I was thinking about that TV special and wishing they would show it again.

And one more thing: Librivox. Volunteers record audio books of public domain works and make them freely available. Anything from novels to plays to short fiction and poetry. There are certain technical standards they require for the final mp3 files, but those are not hard to achieve. I did a few things for them about a year ago, and couldn't continue because I couldn't get enough uninterrupted, background-noise-free time with everything going on with my stepdad. I think I might just order myself the new microphone I wanted and get back into it.

[thalialunacy.livejournal.com]

It's a classic. :D I've never seen the movie/tv/any version of it, though I'm sure it's a hoot. (...and now I'm turning into my mother. XB)

That's a pretty cool link! Thanks for showing it to me. :)