HAVERHILL — Shepherds’ sandals shuffled, choir girls and boys harmonized and angel wings fluttered at center stage throughout the week.
The students of Sacred Hearts School were a big help in ushering in the Christmas season, presenting the 2025 Christmas Program and Pageant.
From third to eighth grade, the student body joined together for a festive celebration of faith, music and storytelling in the program, titled “O Come Let Us Adore Him.”
A dress rehearsal on Wednesday welcomed extended family members, followed by two performances Thursday — one for families of grades three, four and five, and another for families of grades four, six, seven and eight.
Families packed the school gymnasium, phones raised high as parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles recorded the performances.
At the heart of the program was music teacher Michael Grady, director of the Sacred Hearts Band and Chorus, who led the production. There was plenty of holiday cheer with every note and tune, as classics the group played classics like “Christmas Fun” and “Holiday Fiesta.” The band came together in an orchestra of flutes, saxophones, trumpets, basses, bells and drums.
Student singers, musicians, dancers and actors all showcased their talents through Christian hymns, and the program’s centerpiece was the reenactment of the nativity scene. Boys and girls narrated and acted out the birth of Jesus Christ, with students dressed as innkeepers, shepherds, sheep and angels.
This year’s pageant was dedicated to Kathleen Blain, who served as principal of the school for 16 years. Organizers described Blain as a faithful, dedicated and passionate leader who helped transform and grow the school over her tenure. In her honor, the 2025 program included French-themed elements and two of her favorite songs, reflecting her love of French culture.
Blain has also been remembered for her personal connection to the pageant. In 2019, she once stepped onto the stage holding her first grandchild, Maggie, who played baby Jesus.
The Select Chorus delivered a lineup of seasonal favorites, while students from Sonia Safi’s sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade French classes performed the traditional French Christmas carol “Bring a Torch, Jeannette, Isabella.” Third and fourth graders performed “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” fifth and sixth graders sang “Christmas This Year,” and seventh and eighth graders closed with “O Come (Let Us Adore Him).”
A team of educators and volunteers helped with the pageant’s success, including fourth-grade teachers Elizabeth Zahn and Jillian Ziembo as pageant directors, Kaitlyn Sullivan as stage manager and art teacher Patricia Torpey. The school also recognized the Blain family and Ace Hardware Riverside for donating supplies, as well as the students whose voices carried throughout the gymnasium.
Approximately 180 students in grades three through eight participated in this year’s program, spending months rehearsing songs, dances and concert band pieces under Grady’s direction.
Sacred Hearts, founded in 1938, is a Catholic educational institution serving children from preschool through eighth grade. The annual Christmas pageant began nearly 40 years ago under the guidance of Lois Chadwick and it continues to be a cornerstone of the school’s mission. Today, Chadwick’s grandchild is among the students taking part in the performance.