Thursday night was Alexander’s School Christmas program! He had been preparing for weeks and was so excited (and surprisingly not nervous– did he know he was supposed to be?) for his big presentations. He knew is class song super well (he’s been singing it around for days). He had been working on his slides since early November, talking and typing in the words, finding pictures, practicing his announcing lines and swiping on time. And we finally had his costume together. With the help of Mrs B., Mom to the other two soldiers, we tried to go as inexpensive as possible using red felt, old coins we had from “The Wise Men’s gold” in our nativity set-up, school pants, and plain black t-shirts, and glitter glue. Alex had the great idea of using the coins as buttons, and everything fell into place about 7pm the night before… while doing Christmas cookies. Lucas, Aidan and I made pretzel kiss wreaths that Thursday afternoon, and we also brought some of our Peppermint Macarons we made on Monday. (We piped a white chocolate peppermint ganache in the middle and these things are quite possibly the world’s yummiest thing you’ll ever put in your mouth. Healthy? Absolument pas!) But Aidan says they’re his favorite (Muma smiles.)
We arrived super early, and saved p
laces for Nana, Grammy, and Grampapa in the front row. SweetFriend who was a toy doll in their gymnastics program was running around batting her false eyelashes with big smiles and excitement at all the friends as they arrived. Alex was ready and waiting… and waiting. In exactly the place he needed to be… waiting to begin. The first song was their whole class singing “All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.” They got off to a bumpy sound-was-off start (much to Buddy’s confusion- but he handled it amazingly well.) but got right into the groove. They were super cute up there- most of them missing well more than their two front teeth, and they finished really well.
His second act was the sing-a-long he led out in with his good friends SweetFriend, and Buddy. He’s really into putting together presentations right now after David’s leading out in the fall series. He bounces back and forth between PowerPoint on the computer or Keynote on his pad. When we heard that the program would be a ‘talent show’ of sorts, we encouraged him to do something that he’s been doing all around the house anyway. It worked out well to sing with his little friends and lead the group so they weren’t quite so on-the-spot. The three buddies practiced at recess, and came up with little lines to introduce the song, and the order in which each would talk (Alex even typed these out). We were soo proud of them- just beaming and glowing and barely noticed his missed swipe-the-screen-now! cue. I think Buddy was pretty relieved after all was said and done, and we think they were definitely the best show of the night :). Yes, we are those parents, and proud of it!
Alexander’s final act of the night was his debut performance on their little gymnastics team. He was still pretty shy about volunteering to do a whole lot for the program, but he loves to practice at home (especially his two-highs with Papa), and he knew exactly where he needed to be. Here’s a little video taken by grandparents- yes it’s a little Alex-centric, but what do you expect?! We were so proud of him to step up to be on the team (you can see he’s one of he two youngest along with SweetFriend), and he really enjoys it.
It was really a super-fun night. Even Lucas sat attentively through everything, and while Aidan seemed a little indifferent to everything (until the refreshments at the end, that is) we reminded him that his special night was just around the corner. We’re so proud of Alexander and the spiritual elements he wanted to contribute, and how he’s testing out his little leadership qualities, practicing them at home, and bringing them into his little school family as well. May God continue to grow and strengthen your heart for Him, little one. Bravo Alexander! (standing ovation) Encore! Encore!!!
