In the ongoing search for the quintessential...

In the ongoing search for the quintessential California Christmas experience, we bring you shopping for gifts in a T-shirt and shorts, the red Mustang convertible whizzing down the freeway with the top down and a Douglas fir in the back seat, and the drive-through Christmas pageant Saturday and Sunday nights in Pasadena.

Actually, according to Nancy Wood, one of the coordinators of the event at Westminster Presbyterian Church, the pageant was first done in the Midwest, where folks have even more reason to stay in their cars this time of year--sometimes several chilly white feet of it.

This is the third year the Pasadena church is presenting the eight tableaux telling the story of Christ’s birth.

The spectacle features 61 human cast members, six live sheep and a live donkey. The actor playing Joseph has to keep a good grip on the donkey’s rope, Wood said, but “the sheep get bored and lie down and go to sleep.”

There are also many support

personnel directing traffic, setting up lights, serving refreshments and taking care of the costumes, a particularly large job because each role has two people playing it.

It’s a double cast because “you freeze your buns off,” said Wood, explaining that the actors work in half-hour shifts. “You stand motionless for a half-hour, then you go in, get warmed up and get your circulation back.”

Meanwhile the other shift is outside shivering.

Upon arrival at the church parking lot (1757 N. Lake Ave.), motorists will be advised to turn off their car lights and follow the 500 luminaria (or candles embedded in sand-filled plastic milk jugs) through the eight scenes.

The ninth stop is a refreshment area, where you can park the car and mingle while eating cookies and sipping hot cider.

Viewing hours are 6 to 10 p.m. each night and, oh yes, the best part--it’s all free, even the refreshments.