S11.E08:The Best Duggar Christmas Pageant Ever

[Temperance]

Quote

It's Christmas with the Duggars! Jana and Jessa organise a Christmas pageant, and the whole family pitches in to pull it off - including Jim Bob, who has a very special role. In LA, Jinger and Jeremy cut down their first live Christmas tree together.

It's Christmas in August. Also I get the feeling that every year they put on the Best Christmas Pageant. 

@Sew Sumi (I hope you don't mind I created this thread.)

[BigBingerBro]

And Israel & Sam get the blurr-out - nice. 😪

[Scarlett45]

9 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

And Israel & Sam get the blurr-out - nice. 😪

Damn. Well I kind of like this. I am curious to know what kind of legislation is going to come out of minors being on reality shows in the next decade. These kids don’t own their childhood likeness any more! It’s been monetized for someone else’s benefit. If Sam & Izzy aren’t being paid they should appear on the poster. 

[Churchhoney]

I really love that book. I really don't want it linked with the damn Duggars. 😁

[JoanArc]

1 hour ago, BigBingerBro said:

And Israel & Sam get the blurr-out - nice. 😪

“That’s right kids, you have to follow every single rule to the letter and keep us constantly pleased or we will erase you from existence!  You’ll be wished out into the cornfield with, I don’t even remember their names - Mosh, Bill, Durwood? Who knows!”

 The whole unperson thing just gives me the willies. 

[Zella]

25 minutes ago, JoanArc said:

“That’s right kids, you have to follow every single rule to the letter and keep us constantly pleased or we will erase you from existence!  You’ll be wished out into the cornfield with, I don’t even remember their names - Mosh, Bill, Durwood? Who knows!”

 The whole unperson thing just gives me the willies. 

It's like the Soviet Union when they'd erase people out of pictures! 

[Oldernowiser]

Oh, FFS. TLC isn’t even pretending to try anymore, are they...

[Nysha]

My guess is Derick refused to allow his boys to be on TLC in any form. He "allows" Jill because he seems to recognize she's his wife, not his servant. Have either of the boys been in the background since they parted with TLC?

[Temperance]

I think it's the best possible solution given the choices. 

Jessa, Jana, and Michelle want to include Israel and Sam, because these are their nephews/grandchildren. They want them to have experiences with their cousins. I think it's good the family includes Jill's children.

Jill and Derick want their kids to spend time with their cousins. It's good to some extent that they want their kids to know the family. 

It's the holidays almost everyone wants to be with family and see relatives. 

Derick has pulled his children off television. As a parent that is his choice. He doesn't want them to be aired. TLC has to blur them. I think it's good that parents can make choices to protect their kids and that the network has to abide by them. 

I agree with Derick pulling his kids off the show, but the youtube and social media posts make it a lateral move. Same goes for Austin and Joy, who seem to be more on youtube than TLC. 

What @Nysha said. 

[sheshark]

Josie is wearing a nightcap and nightgown as her ugly costume.  Jill wore the same outfit for bed, on television fifteen years ago.

[crazy8s]

it appears that the christmas pageant is being filmed in the schoolhouse/church shown being renovated by Jana, Laura and the howler construction team. building owned by Jed!'s Thomas Lakeview Bible Class LLC

[sheshark]

Jim Boob “I think I’ll make a good donkey.”  Yep, perfect jackass.

Edited August 26, 2020 by sheshark

[SunnyBeBe]

This show is cracking me up tonight. Too funny. Not for the reasons they might expect. Lol

[VioletNevermind]

Wow.  Between Jim Bob crawling around on the floor, braying like an ass, and Austin saying that Jason “said come with me, took me to the bathroom, and sprayed something all over me,” the Duggars have to be trolling us at this point.

There is just nothing left here.  The bones are just about picked clean, TLC.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Suzy Rhapsody

[Zella]

1 minute ago, Suzy Rhapsody said:

Between Jim Bob crawling around on the floor, braying like an ass,

My mind cannot process this. LOL

[VioletNevermind]

They’re using cue cards in this play.  Well, I’ll be damned!  (Some of) these kids can read!

And look at Derick’s children blurred out on those photos . . . 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Suzy Rhapsody

[madpsych78]

I also cracked up at Austin's comment about all three Howlers being Wise Guys. Just the way he said it.

[Chalby]

I rarely have any 'kind' observations of this family because their judgemental views and arrogance regarding their faith sends me over the edge. With that being said, this is a primarily positive post.  Ivy is the cutest little baby, ever. She is so good-natured and her fat little cheeks are super-kissable. Ginger's little gal is a close second as she too is good-natured and adorable.The Christmas pageant was fun, as was the ugly sweater party. We could have done without JimBob talking as I don't think he or Michelle should be given any on screen time due to their poor-parental choices in the past. I do have to ask... Why are a couple of the kids in the photo gift blurred out for tv viewing? Are those the kids of the idiot son and Anna? Are they not allowed to be onscreen or is this at the request of Obi-Stunned-One (Jim Bob)?  Nevermind - I just read a response that Duh-errick's kids are probably blurred.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Chalby

[Chalby]

3 hours ago, sheshark said:

Josie is wearing a nightcap and nightgown as her ugly costume.  Jill wore the same outfit for bed, on television fifteen years ago.

I have to censor my snarks when it comes to Josie. I d so because she's just a little kid, but some of her views or TH answers leave me shaking my head and wondering where her thoughts are at? No matter how clear the questions, or how clear her answers should be, she always seems to miss the point of any activity, or any guided questions. Just like her daddy...

[Chalby]

3 hours ago, Nysha said:

My guess is Derick refused to allow his boys to be on TLC in any form. He "allows" Jill because he seems to recognize she's his wife, not his servant. Have either of the boys been in the background since they parted with TLC?

Given Derrick preoccupation with finances, I am pretty sure he wants Jill to continue with her Counting On input so that he can get that check every month. I often wonder if Jill ever regrets choosing him as her husband or does she truly support his idiot views 100%?

Edited August 26, 2020 by Chalby
Spelling properly seems to evade me with every year I age :)

[Chalby]

4 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

I really love that book. I really don't want it linked with the damn Duggars. 😁

I love that book too. I used to read it aloud to my class every year at Christmas, and tales of the Herdmans (dear ol' Imogene) make my students laugh every time.

[tvisme]

6 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

And Israel & Sam get the blurr-out - nice. 😪

... Or Jessa’s just a lousy photographer.  🤣

[Temperance]

32 minutes ago, Chalby said:

Given Derrick preoccupation with finances, I am pretty sure he wants Jill to continue with her Counting On input so that he can get that check every month. I often wonder if Jill ever regrets choosing him as her husband or does she truly support his idiot views 100%?

Jill doens't seem to be on that often. When she is on, she doesn't have a talking head segment or is interviewed much.  As far as I know her only appearances are the birth of Ivy, and the birth of Bella episodes. Other than that she doesn't have much of a part in the show. They don't seem to film every month either. 

As for Derick, his views are basically the same as his in-laws. 

[Adeejay]

Derek has made it perfectly clear how he feels about the show, so, I wasn’t surprised to see that his sons’ faces were blurred. It was nice and thoughtful of their aunts to include them, because at the end of the day, they are still part of the family.

Every time they show Hannah, Jenny and Jordan, there’s a child attached to their hip or on their lap. Poor girls!

[sigmaforce86]

11 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

And Israel & Sam get the blurr-out - nice. 😪

That's who that was!   I came here to see why some of the kids would be blurred, taking out the Dillard's didn't occur to me.  Interesting because Derrick and Jill don't have a problem with pasting them all over their own social media so it makes me wonder was it TLC's decision because they're not signed on to the show or Derrick's decision because he won't work with TLC or maybe a combination.

There was an Anna sighting though, no Josh of course but she was there laughing with some of the Duggar girls on the couch at the ugly sweater dress up party.    Jeremy in his lumberjack outfit going on to say he has an outfit for every occasion was just making it too easy for us.  And my bug phobia had me begging him and Jinger to take that tree back outside and hose it down with spray - was rare to see the producer or camera man get in on the action though.  That, the candid shots at the sweater party and the little moments with the grandkids being kids were the better parts of the episode; I was JB and/or the powers that be would recognize that most of us would rather see that and a little more "reality" than these staged outings, pageants and scavenger hunts. 

[ginger90]

 

[NotthebadVictoria]

59 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

 

Spurgeons wrinkly shirt and unkempt mop top really stands out in this picture. And not in a good way. 

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, ginger90 said:

 

Mackenzie, Michael, Marcus, Israel, Meredith, Spurgeon, Henry, Samuel, Mason, Gideon, Garrett, Felicity, Ivy, Bella, Mary-Ella, Addison

 

Gracie and then Joy-Anna’s daughter just born are the ones not on the poster.

Interesting that other than Anna (who was the only in law for several years) Jessa is the only one to have two Duggar grandkids back to back. 

[GeeGolly]

1 minute ago, Scarlett45 said:

Mackenzie, Michael, Marcus, Israel, Meredith, Spurgeon, Henry, Samuel, Mason, Gideon, Garrett, Felicity, Bella, Mary-Ella, Addison

 

Gracie and then Joy-Anna’s daughter just born are the ones not on the poster.

Interesting that other than Anna, Jessa is the only one to have two Duggar grandkids back to back. 

And Ivy. She's in between Lissy and Bella.

[Scarlett45]

3 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

And Ivy. She's in between Lissy and Bella.

Yes I edited my post I forgot about Ivy! I thought she was Bella in the photo. 😁

[absnow54]

2 hours ago, sigmaforce86 said:

That's who that was!   I came here to see why some of the kids would be blurred, taking out the Dillard's didn't occur to me.  Interesting because Derrick and Jill don't have a problem with pasting them all over their own social media so it makes me wonder was it TLC's decision because they're not signed on to the show or Derrick's decision because he won't work with TLC or maybe a combination

I’m pretty sure they were blurred because Derrick wouldn’t sign a release. Because (a) he’s petty like that and (b) he doesn’t want TLC to profit off his kids’ image. I also feel like Derrick’s feud with TLC is mostly one sided, since they’ll still feature Jill from time to time. 

[SunnyBeBe]

12 hours ago, Suzy Rhapsody said:

Wow.  Between Jim Bob crawling around on the floor, braying like an ass, and Austin saying that Jason “said come with me, took me to the bathroom, and sprayed something all over me,” the Duggars have to be trolling us at this point.

There is just nothing left here.  The bones are just about picked clean, TLC.

I had the same reaction.  JB talking about getting on all fours on the floor....lol.  Then, Michelle whistles loudly like she's calling her army buddies over for a drink.  The male siblings dressed in women's wear and long hair wigs! Plus, they seemed to love acting all feminine at the ugly sweater party.  Man, they seemed to love that idea. Just letting their freak flag fly.   It was unreal!  I really loved it.  

I think Spurgon is just the cutest little guy.  He's an exceptionally beautiful child, imo.  

Edited August 26, 2020 by SunnyBeBe

[Tikichick]

13 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

This show is cracking me up tonight. Too funny. Not for the reasons they might expect. Lol

For me I'm seeing the first crack of humanity in Michelle as she's genuinely uncontrollably laughing at the chaos of the little kids onstage.  She's so overcome she cannot even pretend to put whatever phony gloss she might choose to over her natural reaction.  She was so overcome that I have to believe she wet herself. 

[Tikichick]

Another big takeaway for me is just how stone cold Jessa is.   She's experienced around small children.  She's currently mother to 3 young children.  She's supposedly "close" to her family.   We watch her go to take Gideon's photograph -- no hug, kiss -- I don't even think she gave him as much as a hello.  Absolutely zero relationship there, zip, nada, nothing.

Getting to see the children's photos close up here revealed something to me -- all of Josh's children old enough to do so posed in a very extra way.  As Gideon's shoot revealed, you never know what you're going to get when photographing children.  Either Josh's kids are all falling remarkably close to his smug apple tree, or they're very well trained to perform flawlessly on command. 

ETA:  And way too much pressure on Spurgeon to punch above his weight class.  He seems on the higher end of capability, but I think maybe it's been overestimated by first time young parents who have a second child who has had a couple bumps in the road that have obscured some of his capabilities at first glance, so Spurgeon has been marked out as extraordinary in the comparison.  I hope they dial all that down for everyone's sake.

Edited August 26, 2020 by Tikichick

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, Tikichick said:

Another big takeaway for me is just how stone cold Jessa is.   She's experienced around small children.  She's currently mother to 3 young children.  She's supposedly "close" to her family.   We watch her go to take Gideon's photograph -- no hug, kiss -- I don't even think she gave him as much as a hello.  Absolutely zero relationship there, zip, nada, nothing.

Getting to see the children's photos close up here revealed something to me -- all of Josh's children old enough to do so posed in a very extra way.  As Gideon's shoot revealed, you never know what you're going to get when photographing children.  Either Josh's kids are all falling remarkably close to his smug apple tree, or they're very well trained to perform flawlessly on command. 

ETA:  And way too much pressure on Spurgeon to punch above his weight class.  He seems on the higher end of capability, but I think maybe it's been overestimated by first time young parents who have a second child who has had a couple bumps in the road that have obscured some of his capabilities at first glance, so Spurgeon has been marked out as extraordinary in the comparison.  I hope they dial all that down for everyone's sake.

I noticed the differences between the kids' pictures as well. It seems Jessa and Anna spend a lot of time at the TTH. My thinking was Jessa either had more time to get a better picture of her kids or cared more to get a better picture.

[madpsych78]

I think of the three November granddaughters it goes: Addison, Bella, and Maryella. 

12 hours ago, Chalby said:

Given Derrick preoccupation with finances, I am pretty sure he wants Jill to continue with her Counting On input so that he can get that check every month. I often wonder if Jill ever regrets choosing him as her husband or does she truly support his idiot views 100%?

I disagree about Derick, or else we would see Jill more. I do think that may be true regarding the Smuggars, though. Even though Josh is not seen at all, Anna and the M Kids certainly are, whereas there are no signs of any Dillards at all. 

[Absolom]

2 hours ago, Tikichick said:

And way too much pressure on Spurgeon to punch above his weight class.  He seems on the higher end of capability, but I think maybe it's been overestimated by first time young parents who have a second child who has had a couple bumps in the road that have obscured some of his capabilities at first glance, so Spurgeon has been marked out as extraordinary in the comparison.  I hope they dial all that down for everyone's sake.

I hope Ivy knocks Spurgeon off the privileged perch by truly being advanced.

[dargosmydaddy]

49 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I noticed the differences between the kids' pictures as well. It seems Jessa and Anna spend a lot of time at the TTH. My thinking was Jessa either had more time to get a better picture of her kids or cared more to get a better picture.

 

2 hours ago, Tikichick said:

Getting to see the children's photos close up here revealed something to me -- all of Josh's children old enough to do so posed in a very extra way.  As Gideon's shoot revealed, you never know what you're going to get when photographing children.  Either Josh's kids are all falling remarkably close to his smug apple tree, or they're very well trained to perform flawlessly on command. 

I mean, Anna has four out of the five oldest grandkids... the oldest three can easily take suggestions to the way they pose, and even Meredith isn't a toddler. I don't see that much of a difference between Meredith's and Spurgeon's pictures, and even Israel's. (OK, Iz looks a bit more awkward, but he's a more awkward kid in general, and likely sees far less of Aunt Jessa than the M kids or, obviously, Jessa's own kids.) The two youngest M's don't stand out at all in the line-up.

[Tikichick]

18 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I hope Ivy knocks Spurgeon off the privileged perch by truly being advanced.

I don't see Spurgeon as the problematic piece of the puzzle.   I feel like he's being set up for frustration and anxiety among other things by the expectations and pressure that's being placed upon him by adults around him.  Social media shows a lot of that comes from Jessa, unsure about Ben's part in it.  I think most of the Duggar siblings are used to falling in line with whatever Jessa demands.  

[Absolom]

32 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

I don't see Spurgeon as the problematic piece of the puzzle. 

Neither do I, but I would really enjoy Jessa having to deal with her first girl child putting the boys in the shade especially after all the pushing of Sturgeon that she's done.

[Tikichick]

1 minute ago, Absolom said:

Neither do I, but I would really enjoy Jessa having to deal with her first girl child putting the boys in the shade especially after all the pushing of Sturgeon that she's done.

The one who should face the shade and the fallout is Jessa IMO.   Improbably I harbor a delusion that somehow somebody makes a heist of Jessa's purse where Ben's balls are kept, knocks him over the head to knock some sense into him, returns his balls to his rightful place and he wakes up to remember he enjoyed a school experience in his upbringing and he wants that for his children.  Yes, I recognize it's a delusion.  But I'm drunk on the idea that a Duggar grandchild is actually enrolled in a public school, with licensed teachers who are accredited to instruct legitimate curriculum. 

Even in my delusion I understand they're all not going to march off to school, but kind of like tossing the starfish back into the sea, it will make a difference for each one who gets the chance.

[Panopticon]

3 hours ago, Tikichick said:

Getting to see the children's photos close up here revealed something to me -- all of Josh's children old enough to do so posed in a very extra way. 

I think Meredith has had a tendency to be sassy for the camera since toddlerhood. I’ve always enjoyed that about her, not least because sometimes she does it when she ought to be keeping sweet and preparing to sister-mom. 

[Absolom]

Ratings:  1.008 M viewers and a .19 rating.  33rd cable show of the day.

[crazy8s]

45 minutes ago, Absolom said:

Ratings:  1.008 M viewers and a .19 rating.  33rd cable show of the day.

so the Duggars, showing christmas from last year, took a million viewers away from watching their fearless leader's convention??

Edited August 26, 2020 by crazy8s

[sheshark]

10 hours ago, ginger90 said:

I love how you can see so much personality in each of their photos!!!  GOTTA KNOCK THAT OUT ASAP!  

 

[ranchgirl]

I thought Josie did much better in her "talking heads" tonight and she looked cute in her longer earrings.  

 

[tabloidlover]

I’m the only one that felt icky when Johanna was “riding” JB down the aisle for the play?   

[toomuchtv]

Are the Duggars still anti-dancing? Lissy was so cute doing her little toddler dancing while they were decorating the tree.

[SMama]

3 hours ago, toomuchtv said:

Are the Duggars still anti-dancing? Lissy was so cute doing her little toddler dancing while they were decorating the tree.

Good thing Lissy is a Vuolo. It has to kill Ma & Pa Kettle when they can’t control the Dillard and Vuolo grandkids. 😂

[Tdoc72]

18 hours ago, ginger90 said:

 

Hmm...it says comments have been limited. Wonder if people were asking about the blurred out Dillards. Also I think I like Izzy’s pic the best.