The ''Gift of Christmas'' (GOC) is one of the largest

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

pageants in the US, and is one of the top-rated Christmas-related events in the state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. It takes place in the Worship Center of

Prestonwood Baptist Church Prestonwood Baptist Church is a Baptist multi-site megachurch, based in Plano, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It is one of the largest churches in America, with a membership of over 45,000 and a weekly attendance ...

, in Plano, Texas. GOC is one of three major

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

efforts of Prestonwood, with the others being PowerPoint Ministries and Prestonwood Sports Outreach. It usually has 500 persons, 70 pieces of orchestra and 100 behind-the-scenes technical crew members, a large number of whom are volunteers. Each year there are around 12 to 14 GOC performances, most of which sell out. There are about 70,000 guests who watch production every year, except 2020 at the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Gloria, A Thousand Voices Sing Christmas
Retrieved 23 July 2013

The performance

The ''Gift of Christmas'' is divided into three acts, with no intermission between them. (It was listed as two acts prior to a 2021 revision.) The first act is oriented toward the secular observances of Christmas (e.g. non-religious Christmas songs, portrayal of Santa Claus) with children playing prominent roles in the scenes, and the highlight is the arrival of Santa Claus and his departure in his sleigh on Christmas Eve. The sleigh rises high above the audience, landing in the balcony area. The second and third acts (the second act prior to 2021) are oriented toward the religious side of Christmas with adults playing prominent roles in the scenes. Act II features traditional religious Christmas songs, and the highlight is the rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy" with drummers drumming high above the audience. Act III is a Live Nativity, presenting the story of Jesus' birth, and the highlight is the live animals accompanying the Wise Men bringing their gifts, with the entire cast and crew bowing before the Baby Jesus. After the second act a

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

presentation is given. The total running time for the entire performance is around two hours. Past performances have featured: * Flying angels and flying drummer boys (the flying drummer boys are often the most popular act) * Live animals (camels, donkeys, sheep) including horse-drawn carriages * Appearances by:

Raggedy Ann Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) that appeared in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and a triangle nose. Gruelle r ...

dolls,

Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" is a popular Christmas song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950 and later recorded by Jimmy Durante. It was written after the success of A ...

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

, music box figurines, a

Ballet dancer A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on ye ...

, rapping penguins,

gingerbread men A gingerbread man or a Gingerbread man cookie is a biscuit or cookie made from gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized form / caricature of a human being, although other shapes, especially seasonal themes (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, et ...

, dancing Christmas trees, reindeer, elves, Santa Claus and

Mrs Claus Mrs. Claus (also known as Mrs. Santa Claus or Mrs. Santa) is the legendary wife of Santa Claus, the Christmas gift-bringer in Western Christmas tradition. She is known for making cookies with the elves, caring for the reindeer, and preparing t ...

, and a real sleigh that flies over the audience. * Various forms of dance, including tap, swing, ballroom, hip hop, and ballet. * Special effects (fog, lightning, earthquakes, the audience sprinkled with confetti, surrounded by stars, and even snow

Stage and seating

The GOC stage includes an

proscenium arch A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

, and about of staging area including an orchestra pit. This is larger than the normal platform for Prestonwood's church services, requiring removal of 1,000 seats from the lower seating area (reducing the overall seating capacity from the normal 7,000 during services to around 6,000). However, even with the reduced capacity, the still-large sanctuary provides a suitable venue for GOC performances (unobstructed sight-lines from every seat, with the farthest seat less than one-and-a-half times the width of the stage from the closest seat, along with lighting and sound quality the same in any seat).

References

{{reflist

External links

* http://prestonwoodgoc.org * http://www.prestonwood.org Festivals in Dallas Prestonwood Baptist Church