Every Christmas Eve, the Casey sisters (Olivia and Claudia), along with the rest of their family, carry on a tradition of reenacting the day Jesus was born.

This unique and fun filled family tradition began with their grandmother who did the same thing with her class at St. Paschal Baylon School. As a former kindergarten teacher, she had all of the props and scripts necessary to make this tradition possible.

Olivia Casey said, “Every Christmas Eve we perform the night Jesus was born and we have all of the props because of my grandma. All of the grandchildren get a role to play.”

The little play doesn’t take too long and the whole family enjoys the show being put on, especially their grandma.

“It would be like a short five minute play and we would do this every single year before presents in the family room with our cousins,” Claudia said. “We’ve always had a great time doing it. It’s for fun, not way too serious, but we do it for our grandma because it always makes her really happy.”

Right before they get to the exciting part where they act out the event, they assign the roles which include Mother Mary, Joseph, Angel Gabriel, the Inn Keeper, and the 3 Kings. “If there was a recent baby born in the family they would be Jesus,” Olivia said. “Also, each character has a script that they read off of.”

After their family has come together and feasted on a great meal, the action begins and Olivia and Claudia’s inner actress begins to shine. Olivia said, “After dinner, before we open gifts, we perform the play while the parents watch from the couch.”

While the grandchildren take their roles as characters in the play, their grandmother runs things from behind the scenes.

“My grandma is the director, she puts everyone in costume,” Olivia said. According to Olivia and Claudia, their grandma is the mastermind behind the whole show and it couldn’t be done without her.

“Our grandma has costumes for all of the characters,” Claudia said. “For Mary she has this long, blue, almost like a fabric, veil with a knit tie around the waist. Then, for the angels, we would be wearing white long veils with gold ribbons also around the waist and sparkly angel wings on the back and a little angel halo.”

Even though the kids are assigned the most important roles, some of the adults also get a chance to participate in the play.

“It’s always just the grandchildren but for the three kings, which are also part of the play, my dad and two uncles play them,” Claudia said. “They’ll have the bar of gold and the different gifts that are being given to Jesus for the reenactment. All of us always have a lot of fun doing it.”

While the tradition is a somewhat serious one, it has it’s funny moments too and their family has a great time. Olivia said, “It’s usually funny when we have a real baby to play Jesus, also the three girls – Claudia, my cousin Claire and I, usually fight over who’s going to be Mary.”

The tradition of putting on a play of the day Jesus was born is a great and memorable one for the Caseys who love the joy and laughter it brings to their Christmas Eve dinner and most important, to their grandmother.