Christmas Joys

Our household has been like a busy but cheerful beehive over the last weeks. Lots of holiday preparations, lots of planning and programming, organizing and re-organizing, stressful but fun.

Our youngest, of course, was over excited.

For the first time in her young life she had two real big parts in her school's annual Christmas celebration. She was to play a young girl and one of only two dwarfs in the play. We rehearsed her lines, ran around to find her costume till suddenly her big day arrived.

The whole family had to see it of course. We all got into the car and drove to the American Base library where the festivities were to be held. Although we got there early, the place was already packed. A "quick plus/minus-about" head count showed 150 kids and parents and more pouring in.

Now don’t you dare think this library is a big place.  I mean, it’s more of a lib with the rary located in a different building, that’s how small it is.

Try to imagine at this time about 60 kids and 120 family members dressed in winter outfits, cramped into a little hall. Needless to say, we were sweating our pants off in a matter of minutes. Coats were flying around, heavy duty sweaters were taken off, and still breathing was difficult. Good thing I ain’t claustrophobic.

A sixth-grader was passing programs around. I can tell you I was more than disappointed to find the fifth-grade at the bottom of the list, my daughter's class was on last! Wonderful, we had to sit through the whole thing.

As the other grades did their world-class performances of all kinds of Christmas stories, intermezzoed by fourth-grade caroling, my mind took off. While I was thinking back of all Christmas performances in the past I realized one of my many huge mistakes. Why in the name of the Lord did I have to have three children at six year intervals? Not only does this mean 18 years of puberty (starts at 12 – stops at 18, that’s six years a piece times three, ha, an A for calculus), it also means 18 successive years of grammar school. When the first one went to high school, number two started grammar school. Now this is not so bad on a day to day basis, it only starts getting bad at various school performances, like Christmas Plays.

Counting my years of service I was watching the SEVENTEENTH Christmas school play as a mother. This is without counting kindergarten where I can distinctly remember one of my children being dressed, yet again, as a dwarf in a Christmassy version of Snow White!

You will believe that I know almost every Greek Christmas carol by heart and that all the different Josephs, Marys, Santa Clauses, dwarfs, elves etc. are by now permanently imprinted on my eyes’ membranes. Thanks…. I hope I’ll get over it!

To every down side there is, of course, an up side. Mine is that in the year 2009 I will be watching my last Christmas Celebration of a grammar school, completing my 18 years of duty. The uppest-side is that 2009 is NOW! May you look forward to the New Year as much as I do . . . happy 2009!

PS: The downest-side is, however, that I'll never be able to say these words again: MY DAUGHTER WAS, BY FAR, THE BEST PERFORMER IN THE SCHOOL PLAY.