Christmas pageant time!

It's that time of the year when the girls finally get to perform the songs they've been singing around the house for WEEKS. It was a really fun show this year, done a little differently than before. It's still each grade sings one song and the entire school sings about 5 in the finale, and interspersed between grades the 8th grade re-enacting Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem, staying in the stable, angels, shepherds and WiseMen visiting. But the grades were all mixed up rather than beginning with PreK 3 and ending with 8th Grade. This way, the songs they were singing helped tell the story.

I've included a video of Nikki's class singing. For some reason, Caroline's video won't upload. Maybe I'll try later. I also don't have video from the finale because we couldn't find the girls! This year, the school surrounded the audience. Doug and I were in the 2nd row, and we saw Caroline come down the center aisle, loop in front of us and walk to the back via the side aisle. And then two rows of kids lined the center aisle and turned to face the crowd, but Nikki was in the row that faced the other side of the room! But it was great - they all sang Joy to the World (which sounded great being surrounded like that!) and For Unto Us A Child Is Born from Handel's Messiah, and a few others.

Then the FAVORITE song came: "Dominick the Donkey." Anyone ever heard this song before? It sounds like a rousing drinking song - everyone joins in, sways, and claps along. I think Doug and I were the only people in the room who'd never heard it before. Must be an East Coast thing. The refrain goes "Ching-a-da-ching, hee-haw hee-haw, Dominick the Donkey. Ching-a-da-ching, hee-haw hee-haw, the Italian Christmas Donkey. La la la. La la la la la la. etc" Hilarious! Ask them to sing it for you sometime!

Poor school janitor, his name is Mr. Dominick....

Caroline is in the back row, third in, next to the boy saluting. She's wearing pig tails and her Rudolph dress.

Nikki is in the front row, third in. She's wearing a red dress and white cardigan.

The girls and one of Nikki's friends posing upstairs in the school. They decorated the upstairs hallway to be a winter/Christmas wonderland. Very festive!

Nikki's class singing: