Lucy smiled down at Sara, who was dressed in her prettiest Polly Flinders dress and was sitting beside her in the crowded church pew.

“Yes, it’s very big,” agreed Lucy as she admired the enormous green wreath that hung behind the pulpit. Lovingly assembled by the flower committee, the wreath was the only decoration in the plain Protestant meeting house. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows and reflected off the white walls. This church had no stained glass or carved-wood paneling; there was no kneeling, no sense of hushed anticipation. Members of the congregation greeted each other and chatted while children ran up and down the aisles. This was the Sunday of the Christmas pageant, and the church was overflowing with families. A chord from the organ brought everyone to order, and the congregation rose to sing an old carol, “Venite Adoramus.”

Lucy loved the pageant. It was the same every year, and she enjoyed watching the children progress through the ranks. The very youngest were angels, naturally angelic with their plump rosy cheeks and soft baby hair, but they soon graduated to become sheep and other animals. After a year or two the animals went on to become shepherds. The very oldest had the important parts: Mary, Joseph, the Three Wise Men, Herod the King, and the angel Gabriel. This year Elizabeth was a lead angel and Toby was a shepherd. Little Sara was still too young, so she was watching with her parents and dreaming of next year, when it would be her turn.

Lucy had grown up in New York City, where her family had attended a large and wealthy Episcopalian church. As a child she had taken part in the Christmas pageant there, dressed in elaborate costumes donated by a rich parishioner. That pageant had been a very elaborate affair, complete with hired actors and singers for the main parts. It had been wonderful in its way; the darkened church had smelled of evergreens and the candlelit, glittering processions had been dramatic and mysterious. Yet Lucy much preferred the sunlit, homemade pageant in Tinker’s Cove.

Hearing the familiar strains of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” Lucy craned her neck to see Elizabeth. She nudged Bill and they beamed with pride as their daughter, glowing with self-consciousness, paraded down the aisle. This year she even had a line. Lucy perched anxiously on the edge of the pew until Elizabeth announced, “Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy!” and she could safely relax.

Leaning against the straight back of the pew, Lucy thought how different the atmosphere in the church seemed today from yesterday. Yesterday’s mourners had been replaced with families intent on celebrating Christmas. It was wonderful to see so many young families in the church, thought Lucy. When she had first started attending, Toby had been a baby and she had come to services with him cradled against her chest in a Snugli.