I was ten, maybe eleven, when disaster struck. We had no warning, no alarm, no chance. It took place about halfway through that season’s run of live-audience performances.
To date, each performance had gone smoothly, so why would we expect anything different? How could we have anticipated a hiccup of any kind to occur on that night? I mean, who would have thought that something so unexpected, so terribly unpredictable and disturbing, something so unrighteous and foul would appear out of nowhere – AND from deep inside the intestinal depths of some poor, unwitting soul, even?
The Living Christmas Tree, hosted by the biggest church in town, First Baptist Church of Merritt Island, would be seen by more than 10,000 people in all each year. It was easily the most talked about event across the Island throughout December — unless, of course, the high school football team was still in the playoffs.
The Choir
Being a part of the Living Christmas Tree at such an early age was an honor I would never forget. I later sang directly on the actual forty-foot-high tree, a privilege reserved for members of the church’s teen choir back then (more on that in my next post). But as a child, I enjoyed being a part of an experiment that involved twenty-five or so children singing on risers off to the side of the tree. To my knowledge, that was the only year that a children’s choir participated in the church’s annual celebration of Christ’s birth.
Hours and hours of rehearsing. Relentless calls for excellence. Demands for perfection. Long, exhausting nights spent on our feet. And, emotional swings that would make even the worst of bipolar events seem tame. The experience known as The Living Christmas Tree took great time and even greater effort for those participating in it.
We rehearsed for months, and all had gone well thus far. Everyone knew the music, the lyrics, and their lines. We sang loud and on key. We learned how to stand perfectly still when the lights were shining brightest upon us. We performed exceptionally, making our director proud.
The Wardrobe
Perhaps the biggest mistake was the wardrobe choice. For the boys, that involved the all-encompassing heat-absorbing black tuxedo which came complete with a long-sleeved frilly shirt (pink in my case), a stubbornly lopsided bow tie, and a pair of ankle-gnawing dress shoes made of bear-trap steel.
The girls wore velvety-red floor-length dresses with big red bows fastened around their waists. I’m not sure what their gowns were made of, but I’m certain they had the same temperature-raising effect upon the young ladies as the tuxedos did upon us young men—especially once under the lights.
Most nights at least one of us felt faint, sick to our stomach, or terribly dehydrated.
The Purge
To this day, I have no idea who it was, but someone (I’m thinking back row of the risers) lost it—and by IT, I mean dinner (and quite possibly multiple snacks as well as lunch and breakfast). Chunks of all sizes and shapes flew everywhere right in the middle of one of the performances. Slimy already-been-chewed projectiles of all sorts landed on most every riser, and on just about everyone, causing havoc and duress among their unintended targets. It happened when we were standing in darkness, but the damage had lasting effects when the lights returned.
Somehow, I escaped the worst of it. Unlike some of my fellow choir members, I did not have to wear any of the regurgitated spew throughout the remainder of the show. I could smell it, however, as the nausea-inducing puke blanketed much of the tiered platform. How any of us completed that evening’s set without adding to the vomitus I will never know. I’m gagging right now just thinking about it.
I participated again in the Tree in high school. Singing on the structure itself provided a whole new set of curious moments and interesting memories. In Part 2 of Remembering The Living Christmas Tree, I’ll share some of those, including a dare that very nearly got me kicked out off the Tree.
Editor’s Note: A big thank you to Jim Burkett for dusting off and sharing the ancient pics provided here.