The children of St. Lawrence School have been charged to be “Carriers of Light” and they’ll be fulfilling that duty with their annual Christmas program Thursday.

The program has been a tradition for years, evolving from an annual play to its current format, which is completely musical with narration interspersed.

Children in the schools’ kindergarten through third grades will be presenting a show called “Carriers of Light” which offers a fresh take on traditional songs. Attendees can expect to hear snippets of favorites like “Away in a Manger,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and “We Three Kings.”

“It’s very contemporary,” said St. Lawrence music teacher Victoria Hull. “There are little excerpts of traditional songs but they’re simple. With children’s voices though, you don’t need anything flowery or fancy, they’re just beautiful. They sing like angels.”

St. Lawrence students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades will have a slightly more traditional collection of songs, featuring classics like “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night” and “Hallelujah Chorus.”

Kim Johnson, who has been assisting with the program and is currently constructing its backdrop, said she was impressed by the difficulty of the music the children would be singing.

“Some of its two parts in unison, and in some of it they’ll have a key change,” Johnson said. “And they’re reading their music.”

Hull said that the students have been working on the program twice a week for two-and-a-half months. That meant that the students began learning Christmas carols at the end of October, which was the cause of some confusion.

“It was for them,” Hull said with a laugh. “No, Mrs. Hull, it’s not Christmas yet! Christmas is a long way off!’ That came from all the groups.”

Johnson said that their confusion was lightened as they began to realize how intricate the program was.

“They haven’t heard all the narration and all the instrumentals,” Johnson said.

“Now that it’s pulling together, they can see how serious it is and what it all sounds like.”

Now that the hard work is nearly complete, Hull said she hopes the children have enjoyed the process.

“I think they do, I think they do,” Hull said. “If they can feel successful at it they do.”

The St. Lawrence Christmas program will be presented at St. Lawrence Church at 6 p.m. Thursday.