December 3rd, 1968

He thought it would be an honor. The moment his chorus teacher said Alan Chan will write the songs for our pageant he'd been so happy he could have burst on the spot. Then he came home and realized he didn't know how to write Christmas songs. All the time he'd spent watching Henry and Stanley write songs for the rock band they hoped to start and he'd learned nothing. Sure, love songs were different from Christmas songs, but the basic idea had to be the same, right?

"All the good ones are taken," he muttered. "Bells, trees, snow, Santa, Jesus, presents, being bad...didn't these people stop and think of the fifth graders who were gonna need to write stuff for a pageant one day?" And of course he couldn't write rock&roll songs, the pageant took place in the 1800s. Having the kids sing about a "groovy, far-out" Christmas day would just be wrong.

Not that he knew how to write rock lyrics, either, but at least he'd be able to ask Henry and Stanley for help if they were allowed.

"I should've volunteered to design the sets instead," Alan sighed. "What am I gonna do? Rehearsals start in a week and if they don't have any songs to practice I'll get an F!"

"Hey, big bro." Alan's head snapped up to see Anne standing in the doorway, bottle of orange soda in her hand. Tom stood beside her, munching on an apple. "Having a little writer's block?"

"Block? More like writer's mountain," Alan laughed bitterly. "Guys, I'm in a jam. I thought writing songs for the pageant would be fun before I realized I'd actually have to write stuff. I can't use rock music and all the good stuff's been written about."

"Just jazz up some of the classics," Anne said with a shrug. "Everyone loves the classics."

"I believe Alan's chorus instructor intended for him to compose original melodies, Anne," Tom said. "And modifying existing compositions would soundly defeat that purpose."

"Oh, right." Anne took a swig of her soda. "Well...I dunno. You can still write about stuff like snow and Santa, just...play with the keyboard, mess around till you hit on something."

"This is a little more complex than the way you write your book reports, Annie," Alan laughed. "I can't just half-bake my way through this, the whole fifth grade's depending on me."

"Well, then I dunno what to tell you. All the music in this family went to the older kids and probably Tom," Anne said. Tom tossed his apple core into the trash pail, tapped his chin thoughtfully and then snapped his fingers.

"Perhaps the history of the winter celebrations may provide some inspirations! The original winter solstice, for example, or the representation of Christianity in other cultures," he suggested. "Ancient poetry and sonnets revolving around the winter season, or the stories of Jesus Christ and Saint Nicholas."

"Hey..." Alan smiled. Leave it to Tom to come up with the most logical solution. "That sounds great! Maybe Mom and Pop have some books they could loan us for that."

"The local library would be a better source of such information," Tom said. Anne smirked.

"See, this is why you always ask Tom first," she said. "Maybe I can help, too? I know what I said about the musical talents, but..."

"Hey, I need all the help I can get," Alan chuckled. They gathered several notebooks and pencils, put their coats and hats on and told their parents where they were going. They'd have at least an hour to check out books before the library closed, or write down anything from the reference section.

Next Monday, Alan presented a folder full of original songs to his pleased chorus teacher.

"If it's okay, we should give half the credit to my brother and sister," he said.