Subscribe
The Daily Grind Video
CLOSE

The Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy took place less than two weeks ago, and already members of the town must get through their first Christmas without their lost loved ones.

As a Newtown tradition, the town holds an annual Christmas play which features members of the community, including young children. Normally an exciting and festive occasion, those lost were missed even more last night as the Christmas Eve show was missing one little angel and a shepherd – two of the first graders shot dead in their classroom on December 14.

Despite the tragedy, the show went on as kids, parents and grandparents filled 1,000 seats in the high-school auditorium Monday night.

Olivia Engel, 6, was set to be an angel in the play.

‘Everybody was thinking about [Olivia],’ Pam Arsenault, the parish education director at St. Rose of Lima Church, which sponsored the pageant, told the New York Post. ‘She’s the real angel now.’

And although, nothing can fix the damage that has been done, Newtown can find comfort in knowing so many people are praying for them this holiday season.

Philippe Poncet, a Newtown resident said:

‘All the families who lost those little kids, Christmas will never be the same…Everybody across the world is trying to share the tragedy with our community here.’

In one display of appreciation, police from other towns have agreed to work so Newtown officers can have the Christmas Day off.
At the Trinity Episcopal Church, less than two miles from the school, an overflow crowd of several hundred people attended Christmas Eve services last night.

We send our thoughts and prayers to all those effected.

SOURCE: Daily Mail | Photo Credit: Getty