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

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

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

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. 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 and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. It is one of the largest churches in America, with a memb ...

, 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

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. The cha ...

dolls,

Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" is a 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 in that year. It was written after the success of Autry's ...

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 C ...

, music box figurines, a

Ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

, rapping penguins,

gingerbread men A gingerbread man is a biscuit or cookie made from gingerbread, usually in the shape of a stylized human being. However, other shapes, especially seasonal themes (Christmas, Halloween, Easter, etc.), and characters are also common. History Gin ...

, dancing Christmas trees, reindeer, elves,

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

and Mrs Claus, 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 (, ) is the virtual 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 itself, which serves as the frame ...

, 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
Geschenke mit Style
Festivals in Dallas Prestonwood Baptist Church