Christmas Pageant today.  The all-island community turned out.  Potluck.  Kids.  School.  The usual.

Kinda.

You see we have a one-room schoolhouse…..it is two rooms, actually, but we have only one teacher for all grades from one to 9 and so it is, in spirit anyway, like a one-room schoolhouse in the woods.  To further make the point: there are only four kids this year.

We could probably hold class in a midsized SUV (the teacher is kind of small, too).

Still, it was nice.  About 75 people showed up to hear the little ones stutter and stammer and monotone their way through their lines.  All to huge applause, of course.

That kind of thing is not really me.  I mean, I like kids.  I love kids.  And I like Xmas.  I also like plays.  I just can’t seem to appreciate the combination.  Call me a grouchy ol’crank.  Just not my thing.

Humbug, I guess. (Actually, if you must know – I do kinda like it.  In a way.  I just have an image to keep up – so don’t tell anyone – plus I really empathize with the little blighters.  I remember standing on stage dressed as an elf and singing Rudolph.  They have my sympathy.  It was hell).   

But I go anyway.  Sal wants me to.  And I clap.  And I smile.  And I might even pick at the potluck a bit.

The problem is that it is just not enough about ‘me’, ya know?  Damn kids get all the attention!  But this time was a bit different.  This year the little school kids had some competition.  We took the wooden toys for show-and-tell!  “Take that, Dimples!”

OK, calm down.  I didn’t really compete with the kids.  I know I am way cuter and I am secure in that.  The toy show was ‘off to the side’.  And it was just ‘show’, no ‘tell’.  The kids got the glory.  And I coped very well.  I am mature, after all.  And it was all good.

But one thing was also clear.  The adults all took a few moments to ‘check out’ the toys and the support they expressed was great.  One couple immediately donated to the ‘workshop fund’ and also offered to buy the skidder you may have seen in the previous blog.

This is not big industry we are talking here but I felt like a rep from the US military-industrial complex showing off fighter jets to Harper.  Same gleam in the eyes!

In other words, this was another good Christmas pageant.