NO CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR
A Christmas Play in Three Acts
by
Delvyn C. Case, Jr.
No Christmas This Year
Copyright 2000
by Delvyn C. Case Jr.
All Rights Reserved
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No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, by any means, now known or yet to be invented, including mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, videotaping or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Characters (in order of appearance)
CHOIR
SHOPPERS
MARIA ROSS, wife of JOSEPH, 30’s—50’s
CONNIE ALBERTSON, wife of DAVID, 30’s—50’s
JOSEPH ROSS, 30’s—50’s
DAVID ALBERTSTON, 30’s—50’s
STEPHANIE ROSS, daughter of JOSEPH and MARIA, teenager
VALERIE ROSS, daughter of JOSEPH and MARIA, teenager
CINDY ALBERTSON, son of DAVID and CONNIE, teenager
MISS SHAW, high-school choir director, 30’s—50’s
Time
Christmas season. Present. ACT I 12/19 and 12/20, ACT II 12/21, ACT III 12/23
COSTUMES
Contemporary dress.
Winter coats, hats, gloves, and scarves
Place
ACT I Scene 1: The Mall
ACT I Scene 2: Church
ACT I Scene 3: The Ross’s Home
ACT II Scene 1: School
ACT II Scene 2: The Hospital
ACT II Scene 3: Church
ACT III Scene 1: The Mall
ACT III Scene 2: The Hospital
ACT III Scene 3: Grandparent’s Home
ACT III Scene 4: The Ross’s Home
PROPS
Bags of gifts
Tables
Chairs
Hospital bed
School chairs/desks
Bench
Free standing door
NO CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR
ACT I. Scene 1: The Mall
(At the lights come up, there is a mall scene with two chairs at center stage. The CHOIR is singing stage left. SHOPPERS dressed for winter carrying packages cross the stage listening to the CHOIR and looking into the windows. MARIA enters from stage right and crosses to the stage right chair. She carries many packages in both arms. As she drops into the chair, she lets the packages slowly drop to the sides of the chair. She watches the SHOPPERS and makes fun of them with mannerisms and facial expressions as the SHOPPERS listen to the CHOIR and shop. CONNIE enters from stage right carrying packages. She recognizes MARIA. She notices MARIA’S antics. The CHOIR finishes. SHOPPERS applaud. The CHOIR exits stage left. MARIA mimics them. CONNIE crosses to MARIA. The SHOPPERS exit stage right and stage left)
CONNIE
Maria, what are you doing?
MARIA
Watching the shoppers.
CONNIE
Watching?
MARIA
(shrugs shoulders)
I’m having a little fun with them. With the whole thing.
CONNIE
(incredulously)
The whole thing?
(CONNIE sits down in the stage left chair and puts packages down. MARIA blows a lock of hair away from her forehead and sighs)
MARIA
Comic relief. It’s the only way I’m going to survive another week of this.
(MARIA takes right foot out of shoe and rubs foot)
CONNIE
This?
MARIA
The Christmas season.
CONNIE
It’s that bad?
MARIA
Worse. Connie, this is the first time I’ve sat down since the day after Thanksgiving.
CONNIE
Maria!
(MARIA pulls out a long list out of her pocketbook and show CONNIE)
MARIA
Look at this! I’m nowhere done. (speaking with more intensity) And presents aren’t all. I gotta buy dresses to wear at two parties. One’s not enough. Joseph says we have to make a good impression at the office party and the neighborhood party.
CONNIE
(trying to calm MARIA down)
Wait.
MARIA
(looking straight ahead)
I haven’t begun to cook all the stuff everyone wants. The kids say, (mockingly) “Make the Santa cookies, make the Santa cookies”. (to CONNIE) Of course I’ll throw most of them out on New Year’s along with the dried out Christmas tree.
CONNIE
Just a minute.
MARIA
(with more intensity and speed)
When you’re screaming for a little rest, there’s Christmas eve. You think it’s over after a big family dinner and church. (shakes head) It’s just the beginning. Up ‘til one…(with mocking) wrapping and taping and wrapping and taping…
CONNIE
(trying to calm MARIA down)
Slow down.
MARIA
(hands up)
Then the dreadful day begins. There’s the yelling and screaming: “That’s mine!” “No it’s not!” In the midst of total chaos, (slowly) we have to stop to take pictures. (mockingly) Do I look lovely? (loudly) In my bathrobe? (faster) While the kids are stuffing themselves with all the chocolate and candy the grandparents have dropped into their stockings—they’re going to eat after that?-- I have to start dinner. I’m still in my bathrobe as I set the table.
CONNIE
(strongly)
Maria, please!
MARIA
After working so long to make a nice dinner with everyone’s favorites, it’s over in five, maybe ten minutes. They’re like locusts. They’d make Moses proud. (looking at CONNIE) You don’t think I should make fun of “the whole thing”? (looking straight ahead) I can’t wait ‘til four on Christmas day when I can lay on the couch with my feet up and fall asleep. It’ll be the first rest I’ll get from this moment ‘til then. (MARIA sits back and blows away another lock of hair)
CONNIE
Are you done? You’ve exhausted me.
MARIA
(looking ahead) I’ve hardly started.
CONNIE
I read in…some magazine that there is as much stress at Christmas as there is with a divorce or death of a spouse.
MARIA
(looking at CONNIE) Maybe we shouldn’t have it.
CONNIE
What?
MARIA
Christmas.
CONNIE
(startled)
You don’t mean that.
MARIA
I know the kids would squawk.
CONNIE
For sure.
MARIA
(putting her shoe on)
Joseph would go ballistic. He’s such a Christmas person. And his parents. Ouch! They’d never forgive me.
(MARIA picks up packages and stands up)
MARIA (cont’d)
(looking at CONNIE)
Would I dare?
CONNIE
(standing up)
You wouldn’t!
MARIA
(shrugs shoulders)
You’re right. It means too much to me, even with all the frenzy. I’ll hang in there.
CONNIE
Good girl.
(CONNIE touches MARIA on the shoulder. They cross to stage right exit)
MARIA
Do you know Christmas day is only day of the year that I’m dressed for only four hours?
(CONNIE shakes her head)
MARIA (cont’d)
(as they reach the stage right exit)
Seriously: noon ‘til four.
(CONNIE and MARIA exit stage right)
ACT II. Scene 2: Church
(Interior of a church. There is a door downstage stage right with a bench in front of it. The CHOIR is upstage to the door. The CHOIR is casually dressed for rehearsal. MARIA and CONNIE are in the CHOIR. The CHOIR sings one verse of a Christmas carol. JOSEPH and DAVID enter from stage right and cross to the door. They are dressed with winter coats. They listen to the CHOIR finishing the song. After the CHOIR finishes, CHOIR member talk to each other. Some CHOIR members exit stage left. MARIA and CONNIE talk with each other)
JOSEPH
The choir sounds great. They’ll make the Christmas eve service wonderful!
DAVID
They’re better every year. (checking wristwatch) Practice must be done. The girls should be coming out.
JOSEPH
(with enthusiasm)
I love Christmas! (hands up) All of it!
DAVID
(checking wristwatch)
These last Christmas’s must have been extra special for you and Maria.
(CHOIR disperses)
JOSEPH
(nodding)
It’s been a spiritual journey for both of us. As a kid Christmas was mostly a tree, tinsel, presents…
DAVID
Who did you think Jesus was?
JOSEPH
Like many on the street, I would answer “the Son of God” if asked. But I never thought what it meant.
DAVID
The Bible has a lot to say about it.
JOSEPH
The Bible was the book we had in the attic with the most dust on it.
DAVID
And your wife?
JOSEPH
Maria went to church regularly while at home. She enjoyed the liturgy. She went to Sunday school “til the tenth grade. They talked about social issues. Maria said it was like health class in school.
DAVID
Sounds familiar.
JOSEPH
She was unsure about her faith. She wanted someone to challenge her about her beliefs. She thought her answers might shock some and she’d be set straight. But the people at her church seemed to think everyone and everybody’s beliefs were OK.
DAVID
Did she stick with church?
JOSEPH
She drifted away in college. I used to go to church on Christmas and Easter at home; but I stopped going in college too.
DAVID
What got you back?
JOSEPH
Children. We thought we should think about faith—for our children’s sakes.
DAVID
Is that when you returned to church?
JOSEPH
Not right away. First we considered the New Age movement. Remember that?
(DAVID nods)
JOSEPH (cont’d)
It was so vague and tepid. It didn’t satisfy. Incidentally where’s New Age now?
DAVID
(shrugs shoulders)
It’s gone pretty much, at least around here. What happened next?
JOSEPH
Everyone was excited about angels for a while. That got us thinking. Then there were several cover stories about Jesus. The first paragraph in the weekly news magazines stories sounded like everyone believed in Him. But by the end of the article, it sounded like no one was convinced.
DAVID
Confusing?
JOSEPH
Definitely. Later Maria thought we should dust off the old Bible in my parent’s attic. Actually read it ourselves. There we found something that made sense to us: God entering human history to bring salvation to people who couldn’t save themselves. It was a unique message compared to all other religions and philosophies.
DAVID
It’s the Christmas message.
JOSEPH
And now there’s nothing that would keep us from celebrating Christmas.
(MARIA and CONNIE enter from door)
JOSEPH
Hi, girls. We were listening to you practicing.
DAVID
We had live entertainment with a message.
JOSEPH
The price was right.
(MARIA yawns)
DAVID
(to MARIA)
Tired?
MARIA
It was a nice break to just sit and sing.
JOSEPH
The kids just got home from chorus practice when we left to pick you up. They must have gotten their talent from you ladies.
(MARIA yawns again)
JOSEPH
(nodding)
That’s a message too. MARIA
(covering mouth with hand)
Sorry.
JOSEPH
Let’s get home. Night David, Connie.
DAVID
Night.
CONNIE
Night.
MARIA
(yawning)
See you Sunday.
JOSEPH (points stage right)
Coat?
(JOSEPH puts right arm around MARIA. They cross to stage right exit and exit)
DAVID
(motioning toward stage right)
Shall we?
CONNIE
Just a minute. This may be our last quiet moment for the next week, too. I want to savor it.
(CONNIE sits down on bench. DAVID sits on b
A story about a man who cancels Christmas for his family because everything goes wrong.
Author: Delvyn Case
Synopsis:
A fun story about a father who decides to cancel Christmas for his family since everything is going wrong.
No Christmas This Year
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Available Options
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