"So Mr. Vanilla was the Boogie Man?"

This morning we had a blast as a Lower School. I popped a Holiday Karaoke CD into the player and projected it onto a screen for the whole school sang along. Then we sang the "12 Day of Christmas." Each classroom was in charge of creating a poster for one of the 12 days and stood to sing when it came to that part of the song. It's amazing how simplistic and beautiful it is to just get together as a community and sing. When the next title of a song popped onto the screen, we heard "ooh," "aaah" and "YAY!" That kind of energy is irresistible and definitely worthy of tradition! At the end of our little shindig I called all the teachers down front -which unexpectedly the kids erupted with grand cheers. We sang a little number called "Blitzen's Boogie" from Plank Road Publishing. When Mr. Manella, our Headmaster boogied out in front of us all in the middle of the song, showing off his incredible reindeer skills, it just about blew the roof off with excitement from our audience! And my week was made complete when I got an email reporting that a first grader asked, "So Mr. Vanilla was the Boogie Man?"

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If Santa Were Stuck In My Chimney

You wake up in the middle of the night and you hear muffled cries for help coming from your family room  but you don't recognize the voice... first you get freaked out but suddenly you remember it's Christmas Eve. Leaping from bed you run to the door of your bedroom and sneak one toe into the hallway and then another and another... lilting ever so stealthily down the hallway... because if it really is who you think it is...

"Hello, there," you call up the chimney. It's him. He knows your name and proves himself to be Santa Claus because he even knows what you asked for this year. You are one out of BILLIONS to get the chance to help Santa get unstuck from your chimney! After a few tugs, he is free and makes his way into your family room. You share a cookie together and he tells you that you get to ask one- just ONE question- anything you've ever wanted to know about Santa. You have wondered your WHOLE LIFE how and why he does what he does- why this, why that... So many movies explain things their own way- it's like there's a hundred versions of Santa and the North Pole- but which ones are real... if any?

So if the Claus himself were standing before you and you could have one question answered... what would it be?

Here's a sampling of what kids came up with from 3 years old through 3rd grade...

Where did you get your name from?  Where did you get the elves?Are you still going to give us toys? How do you get all that wood to make the toys? How do they make ribbons? How do you make teddy bears? Why do you come on Christmas? Do you have any friends? What do reindeer like to eat? Do you have another home besides the North Pole? Where do elves go to the bathroom? How does the angel get on top of the Christmas tree? What toys do you like to play with? Why do you always come last in the parade- are you late?  How do the reindeer fly all the way from the top of the world down to Kentucky? How do you fly if the reindeer are out in the front and Santa is in the back and so heavy? Are you a Guardian? Are you a spirit? Do you have diabetes? Am I naughty or nice?

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