I hope you like Jingle Bells

because if you go to the learning center holiday concert, you're going to hear it three times. Yes, it is the easiest song on Earth to remember but I know a great song about snow that I would have happily performed if I knew everyone was going to be singing the same thing. Honesty, though, song selection was the least of our problems.

In the past, the youngest kids who participated were the two year olds. This year, in a bold and brave move, the toddlers were allowed to perform. Total disaster. All they had to do was shake something that kind of made a jingling sound while their background accompaniment (a tape made circa 1992) played a short and sweet version of Jingle Bells. Somehow, they still couldn't hack it.

Gavan didn't even make it to the stage (which was really just the circle time carpet from the two year old room) before he started balling and walked away to sit on his mom's lap. She ended up getting up to dance with him. Annabelle is the oldest in the room and should be expected to bring her A game, or at least be a good example for the others. Instead, she decided to lie on the floor and roll around. Ryan surprisingly gave a command performance. Not only did he stand still and face the audience but he also did the appropriate dance moves at the appropriate time. His mom is pregnant, so I think Ryan was trying to remind her that she should still love him after the new baby comes.

The two year old room was a little more mature about the whole production. We crafted hand-made reindeer hats and sang three songs (only one of them was Jingle Bells). While I did leave the stage at one point to greet my parents, I certainly wasn't crying.

I should have known that someone as fabulous as me
could never really blend in. Oh well, worth a try.

Is that Linda McCartney I see over there?
 

By the end of the show, even I couldn't sit still.
Sometimes, you just gotta dance.

 

There isn't much to say about the preschool kids. They were "eh" for me. I couldn't tell what their construction paper hats were supposed to be and I didn't find it necessary to hear every.single.verse. of Feliz Navidad droned by a bunch of drowsy three to five year olds.

The bright spot in the evening was the extensive snack table that was set up in the back of the room. After the show and photo ops, I got to have a piece of chocolate cake AND a cup of juice before going home for dinner.

Upon my arrival at home, I politely asked my mom to put my stuffed eggplant in the garbage and give me cookies and crackers in its place. Apparently, that doesn't fly in my house, but I'm going to keep pushing for a vote in meal planning over the holiday season.