Holiday Cheers

Yesterday I managed to leave work early to go to the School to see Hamster Boy in the annual Christmas talent show. My children go to a Catholic school, so this event happened the day after the second Advent Mass and is a wonderful show of talent from all the kids involved. For the past two years Hamster Boy has been trying out for the show with other kids and not getting in. This year, his whole class managed to get something on the stage, be it a dance routine, a song or a skit. I heard girls singing songs, by themselves or in duets, violin and piano solos, a classical guitar, a flute and skits that had me giggling till late last night. There were kindergarten children stealing the show as they sang about Santa. There were the senior class members making us all cry as they sang the Live Aid song "Do they Know It's Christmas", ending with them all adding a can of food to a pile in front of the stage. What a wonderful way to end their Advent project of collecting food for the local food bank!

There was much off key and many missed notes, but each one made it more special. Christmas songs are never more Christmas-y then when sung by a child. IT is that innocence and that joy of the whole season that infuses their whole being. IT is their gift to us, like the drummer boy of old gave to that other Child, whose birthday we all are looking forward to. They sing and dance with their whole heart. IT was one of the nicest concerts I have ever been to. Minimal staging, lots of laughter and the students in the audience sang along with their on stage classmates when they needed help. We all smiled at the toddlers in the audience who danced on the floor next to the stage where their elder sister was performing, silently stealing the show, getting lots of applause at the end.

If you have the chance to see a children's concert, may you enjoy it as much as I did yesterday. Let it take you back to the time when you didn't worry about budget and presents, about taking time off work, about all that holiday stress. When Christmas was all about a Child. One whose birthday brought us so much more than we can ever give back. So, when trying to figure out when you can bake that pie for Christmas dinner, why not bake a birthday cake instead. After all, 'tis the season!