Christmas Eve Children's Choir at Saint Matthew

Christmas Eve at Saint Matthew Lutheran on Wiget Lane, there for the children's choir performance. The big screen up front said WELCOME in a dozen languages while everyone found seats, and the tree next to the chancel went most of the way to the ceiling, strung with lights and what looked like angel ornaments.

The kids filed up in front of the altar in rows — older ones in the back in white shirts, one boy in a striped tie, the little ones down front in velvet and sequins and every shade of pink and purple. Poinsettias banked all around them, red and white mixed. Some of them sang like they meant it, mouths wide open. Others stood with hands folded and mouthed along, or turned around to check on the row behind them mid-song, or worked a finger toward their face. One girl in bright pink stood dead center and carried it.

A woman in a red dress kept moving along the front of the stage between numbers, sorting kids back into position. The Advent candles were all lit on the wreath by the pulpit. When it ended they came down off the steps in a tangle, past the microphone stands nobody had adjusted low enough.