Scarlett's Christmas Performance and School Party

Scarlett took to the stage this holiday season for this the first time!  The two Pre-K 3 classes at her school joined forces and sang two songs at their Christmas program -- Jingle Bells and Silent Night.  (Jingle Bells seemed like a good fit for the 3-4 year old crowd:  easy lyrics, a chance to yell "hey!", an opportunity to laugh loudly ("ha, ha, ha!"), and the ability to zealously jingle some bells.  Makes sense.  Even Max picked up all the lyrics after hearing Scarlett practice the song over and over and over, and then he proceeded to sing it over and over and over.  Silent Night, however, seemed to be a pretty ambitious selection, but they managed to pull it off.  Sort of.)

Ready for the performance!  Scarlett looking pretty in her Christmas finest.

Blurry shot, but Max's tongue cracked me up.  (The plaid-on-plaid situation was not intentional.  Somebody call the Christmas fashion police.)

Max, what's with all the silly faces?

Waiting for the performance, and -- you guessed it -- Max is making another silly face.  This is actually a classic Max move of late.  He sort of purses his lips and blows (kind of like when you stick your tongue out and make a "plbbbtttt" noise, but without the tongue sticking out if that makes sense).  The following exchange typically happens at least 20 times a day:

Max:  "Mommy?"
Me:  "Yes, Max?"
Max:  "Plbbbbbttttttt."
[and repeat until he moves onto something else more interesting]

The performers!  Our tall girl was in the back row, being very serious while waiting for the piano music to start.

Scarlett does not like being the center of attention or performing on demand, so we weren't sure how she was going to do.  But she did GREAT!  She sang and rang her little heart out.

Santa came to visit with the kids after the performance.  Scarlett held it together and even managed a little smile.  Max, on the other hand, was not pleased.  They did both tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas (a "Frozen" doll for Scarlett and a firetruck for Max, although Max's request was so half-hearted and under his breath that Big Sister had to translate for him).

And here's Scarlett's request in writing, complete with her signature.

The next day was Scarlett's class Christmas party, complete with gingerbread house-making ...

... a reading by yours truly (of "Olive, the Other Reindeer" about a dog named Olive who thought she was a reindeer) ...

... and a book exchange.

Fun times!