The (Infamous) First Christmas Program

Friday December 19th marked Nevaeh's 'Christmas program' debut. Let me paint the picture for you. The program took place at the YMCA in a medium size gym. There were risers creatively built out of about 50-step aerobic steppers located front and center of the gym. About 150 chairs were set up throughout the gym in an orderly half circle manner. All the seats were taken and about another 30-40 people were standing behind the chairs.

I was so nervous for her. I’m sure I wasn’t the only parent who felt that way. The kids ranged in age from 2-5 and sang in two separate groups. The 3, 4, and 5 year old sang 4 songs together first and the 2 and 2.5 year olds sang 4 songs together last. The children were herded in from what looked like a big utility closet…but I’m sure it was really an extravagant dressing room. I strategically placed myself near this utility clo…. ahem dressing room and began my camera work with a close up of her walking out. She walks out and was towards the end of the line just looking at the wall (opposite of the 200 person crowd) and looking at the ceiling and just talking, talking, talking to nobody.

She spots me and just had to stop and give me a hug and a kiss, which was adorable, before she ran back with her class and was given her place on the risers. I would say there were about 20 two year olds on the risers split into two rows. Nevaeh was placed in the front row right about in the middle. And now is about the time she freezes. I think she realized how many people she was standing in front of and just froze. The first song began, and she’s frozen solid just staring out into the crowd looking like she will start crying at any moment. The first song ends.

Then comes the applause. Now, Nevaeh is well aware of what clapping mean. GOOD JOB, GOOD GIRL, WAY TO GO! I’ve been clapping at her since she was a newborn! All the sudden she’s not so shy anymore, she’s mutated into Bette Midler!! She starts out tentative…sloooooowly stepping forward onto the lowest step with one foot…. then the other…very slowly…. she is now noticeably separated from the rest of the class, front and center. I heard someone behind me say, “Are they doing solos?” In a shocking tone (because we’re watching a bunch of 2 year olds, nobody expected any solos).

The next song is a four-verse song. It is to the tune of ‘wheels on the bus’ and it goes a little something like this. “The lights on the house go blink, blink, blink, yaaada yada, yaaada yada. The lights on the house go blink, blink, blink, at Christmas time.’ Followed by ‘the reindeer on the roof go tap tap tap’ and ‘the bells on the sleigh go ring ring ring’ and finally ‘the children at the ‘Y’ sing la la la’ I know how the song goes because Nevaeh and me have been practicing. =) Nevaeh got into this one BIG TIME!! Each verse has an obvious move or gestures that the kids are to do and Nevaeh’s really getting into it. So much so that when they got to the second to last verse she threw her hands up over her head (yes, jazz hands and everything) and in a grand finale sort of way sang “AT CHRISTMAS TIME!!!” her voice carrying easily over the other children, leading the audience to believe that the song was over…so they applauded. In reality there was one more verse in the song. The rest of the children looked confused. The daycare teacher and the piano player kind of looked at each other and shrugged

Yes, my daughter ended the song.

During the next two songs she switched it up a bit. She alternated between singings, conducting the rest of the class, and pointing at me and yelling, “THAT’S MY MAMA!!!” That would be the point that I turned bright red, as the people around me were looking at me and laughing. She was definitely making a spectacle of herself. Just causing a ruckus and being a scene-stealer in general. Don’t get me wrong it was cute as hell! Just a tad scosh embarrassing.

So prior to the infamous Christmas program I was nervous and embarrassed for my daughter, but boy did she turn that shit around on me in a hurry.

If you doubt my account of Nevaeh's notorious first Christmas program, I'll show you the video!!! It has been documented for for future blackmail!