ONE tradition every Christmas is the school nativity play. Last year they were cancelled, and for some schools it's the same story this year.
So we asked the 13,100 members of our We Grew Up in Newport Facebook group for their memories of their school nativity. What parts they played and what their costumes were like.
Here's what they said:
Marion Mahoney: I remember when all the boys had tea towels on their heads and the girls a circle of silver tinsel. I also remember watching my granddaughter at her infants play and we had to sit on little wooden chairs I arrived late from work and sneaked in the back door and as I sat down the chair collapsed and I was flat on the floor and the parents all put their cameras on me. I've never been so embarrassed in my life.
Julie Jarvis: At a nativity play in Rogiet everything went off lovely. When it was finished baby Jesus was found laying by the piano where he had been for the whole performance. Good job he was a doll.
Eileen Williams: My grandson Ethan was a shepherd when he was five, and with a lamb under his arm went on stage with the other shepherds. The Nativity scene looked beautiful, but he soon got bored and started to fidget. Then everyone started to laugh as he had taken off his tea-towel and cord and proceeded to hang the poor lamb thinking it very funny. My daughter and I were mortified, but thankfully his teacher ran on stage and sorted it and the play continued.
Deborah Furtek: So funny getting boys to put on tights!
Wendy Baynham-Morse: When we did nativity plays they were all handmade costumes by our super proud mums. You couldn't go out and buy a costume from Asda or similar. I was angel Gabriel and had to wear large wings which my dad made. I kept getting stuck trying to walk through doors.
Sue Wilkins: Me too! I remember being Angel Gabriel at Bettws Free Church, (where I was a Brownie and Girl Guide) - only to get stuck in the aisles with my wings!
Gillian Robins: Nothing to do with nativity plays but my mum always bought a pineapple to go in the fruit dish at Christmas. We weren't allowed to eat it. It was just for show. After Christmas it had to be thrown out as it had gone bad.
Eve Olsson: I was one of the three wise men and had a beard stuck on my chin for the afternoon rehearsal prior to the performance for parents. It was too painful to remove so I wore it home on the public bus with my school scarf around my chin.
Lynette Edwards Mahoney: I was the back end of the donkey!
Rosemary Scadden: I was Mary in the Gaer primary school, either 1953 or 1954. There was a picture in the Argus, but I don't have it.
Steve Parry: Not so much a memory of a nativity play, but I do remember singing Little Donkey solo, in front of the whole congregation of Hill Street Methodist Church (sadly, no longer there) - I was probably aged about five.
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