Adam Lanza couldn’t kill Christmas.
Newtown residents are pressing on with holiday rituals this week in a heavyhearted bid to restore some normality after the Sandy Hook massacre.
After a week of conducting funerals, Monsignor Bob Weiss of St. Rose of Lima Church yesterday said the town’s annual Christmas pageant — which lost two children in the violence — will be held this afternoon.
“The pageant is dedicated to all the kids who were taken from us,” he said. “These are little children who loved Christmas. Let’s keep it as if they were here.”
Olivia Engel, a 6-year-old slain in the attack, had been cast to play an angel. Another victim, an unidentified boy, was to be a shepherd.
Neither will be replaced for the production, set for 4 p.m. today at Newtown HS.
Weiss admitted giving himself a pep talk to go ahead.
“I was thinking about that this morning — ‘You need a little Christmas’ — trying to get myself going,” he said. “We all need a little Christmas.”