On Monday night, at the top of their schoolside hill, the students of Cluny School presented their fifth annual "Living Nativity" for the school and community as a part of Christmas in Newport. 

The previous three years the event at the school has been canceled due to inclement weather. The organizers said they were thrilled to be able to go on with the show after Sunday night's storm. Even the crying from the baby portraying the infant Jesus throughout most of the performance could not dampen the spirit of the event.

Because of the cancellations in previous years, organizer and Cluny School parent Hillary Davidson told Patch that this year it was important to make sure that the seventh and eighth graders at the school held the primary roles of the nativity. The students played out the scene of the first Christmas while their peers read the story aloud next to the set.

Although the older students held lead roles, all of the students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade were involved. The younger students gathered on either side of the nativity scene holding candles and singing Christmas hymns in the barnyard scene. The presentation was complete with live animals that were provided by Simmons Farm in Middletown.

Davidson said that the school asks so much of the community throughout the year that this free event is their "gift to the community" for all their support.  

The Cluny School started presenting after Davidson saw it performed by school children in New Zealand and suggested the event to school leaders.