My son likes surprises. So it was no surprise to me that I didn't hear anything about his class singing in the school Christmas pageant until the week before it was supposed to occur. Another entity that apparently likes surprises is his school. They do not do a good job, in my opinion, of letting we parents (especially the ones new to the school) what is going on. If they think that our Kindergartners are going to come home and remember to tell us stuff, they're a little crazy. There had been a couple of handouts on the pageant mentioning rehearsal times and costumes in Gabriel's folder, but the youngest grade mentioned was 1st grade. We were not even going to attend, but then Gabriel let it slip that they had been rehearsing (thank goodness!). They were going to sing five songs, no less. I made a mental note that we might want to tell grandparents about it. Within the next few days, he mumbled something about his costume. Me: "What costume?" G: "Me and three other kids get to wear the special costumes." My first thought was, "how much is this going to cost us?", but then Gabriel said that Ms. B had found the costumes for them out of stuff the school already had. So after pondering all of this for awhile, I asked, "Gabriel, do you have any lines in this pageant?" He just smiled really big and said it was a surprise. Of course.
The day of the show, which was to begin at 7, he had a flyer in his folder that I luckily read before leaving the parking lot. It said to bring the kids back up to school by 5:15 at the latest. "Why so early?" I pumped Gabriel. He had no idea. I called the office, still sitting in the car in the parking lot, and asked when the start time was. Ms. Hernandez, School Secretary, asked: "How old is the student?" Me: "Kindergarten." Mrs. H: "Their pageant starts at 6 in the church. The older kids go on in the gym at 7." WHAT????? Do ya think this information would've been helpful at some earlier point in the day, or perhaps week, or perhaps MONTH???????? They have a completely separate pageant?!?!?!?!?! And it starts at SIX?!?!?!?!? I started frantically calling Jav, told him to call his sister and mom, called my parents, then rushed home to give baths, snacks and get ready to go back. ME: "Gabriel, what do you need to wear back up there?" G: "I dunno. I guess my school clothes?" Sigh and double double sigh.
We made it back on time, I remembered to bring the video camera, and Joel and I settled in to wait for other family members. Jav almost didn't make it, wandering in to the church as the kids were lining up at the back for the procession in. We saw our cute little brown donkey right away. They marched in and began to tell the wonderful story of the Nativity, complete with narrators, angels and shepherds. Gabriel moved toward the center, where the microphone was, as they all started to sing, "The Friendly Beasts", a song I was not familiar with. Jav was at the back taping, and I got my phone ready just in case. Then something amazing happened. My sweet 6-year-old, who had such stage fright two years ago that he refused to get up on stage and sing one song with his class, stepped up to the microphone. By himself. And started singing. He sang a solo. He sang with confidence, he sang on tune, but best of all he sang with joy. He started off the four soloists of the song (and the only ones for the entire show, I might add). I was so shocked/proud/happy/ecstatic that I really don't remember the rest of the show. I remember my parents, and Jav's mom and sister just beaming. My mom was practically laughing she was so proud of him.
The kids returned to their classroom after the show to wait for us to pick them up. I was in a daze as I agreed with other parents that they had all done such a good job. After some other teachers came up and told me they couldn't believe what a great singer Gabriel is, I think I mumbled that I knew he could sing, but that I thought he had stage freight and therefore had no idea he was going to sing a solo. Some parents heard me and said, "You mean he didn't practice? Ours practiced over and over and over this weekend!" "Nope, not one note". When I picked him up, Mrs. B said, "Mom and Dad, I can't believe how musical he is!" We praised him for days afterwards.
Gabriel got to do another really cool event at school this Christmas, and it turned into a truly magical event before it was all over. Mrs. B (who is raising the bar so high as a teacher that I wonder how any future ones will live up to our/Gabriel's expectations) sent permission slips home for the kids to go back up to school the night of the 21st, just their class, to watch Polar Express in their jammies and sleeping bags. I knew Ms. B would need someone to help her with all of that Christmasy, frenetic 6-year-old energy, but I never would have guessed it would be the principal! Maybe she HAD to be there since it was an after-normal-school-hours event. Either way, i thought it was great because it gave her a chance to get to know her Kindergartners and future school leaders a little better.
They ate hot dogs and drank hot chocolate, and had cookies for dessert. What a special thing to do that close to Christmas! But that wasn't the end of the story. Right before Gabriel went to sleep in his own bed that night, he found a SLEIGH BELL under his pillow! Just like in the movie! He figured out that it had to be from Santa, and was so excited he could barely go to sleep that night. And then he got to school the next morning, and guess what? ALL of them had found sleigh bells under their pillows! Talk about lighting up the Christmas spirit in a bunch of little hearts.
1 comment:
Amazing and what a wonderful surprise!
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