Day 16: Holidays in the Public School

Maybe I shouldn't go there. Well, I will anyway!

My first year as a teacher, two things happened.  The first one was a huge fight among the faculty at my school about what holiday symbols to put in the lobby. The argument was that if you were going to put out a tree, a Menorah, and a Kwanzaa Kinara, then why can't you put out a Nativity scene too?  I was too young to get involved in the whole mess, but it looked to me like all of it came from the dollar store anyway.

The second thing was South Park. :0) Yes, I watched it. Yes, I still do when I can.  At that time I was keeping up with the enemy.  My students got mad their inside jokes were infiltrated by a teacher.  But by far, one of their best episodes was Season 1, Episode ten. The non-offensive Christmas pageant.  By the time the pageant was on, the South Park kids were wearing leotards and Philip Glass was doing the music.  All I could think when watching it was, "I loved Kundun! (Movie Glass did the music for)"

Today my daughter was in a "Winterfest" chorus concert.  The children sang it all.  They had a Hanukkah song, and it wasn't written by Adam Sandler. They had a Kwanzaa song and those kids belted out each of the principles without taking a breath.  They sang about Santa Claus and the Three Kings. They also paid tribute to Snow and Gingerbread men.

They were having fun.  They were singing.  Moms, Dads, and Grandparents were filming.  I was thrilled my child participated.  I don't think I walked out of there affected by any subliminal messages to change religions.  But I did walk out of there happy my child was not hiding in the classroom crying she wouldn't go on stage.

It was one more moment, one more victory, and one more Advent event to remember.