I actually got one good photo!!!

Kamen wasn't necessarily thrilled by his mom and Nana's insistence on a photo op right after his program. And it wasn't necessarily easy to even find him amid about 150 kids or so -- give or take a few! By the time they dismissed and urged the parents to come find their kids, everything was chaotic! I'm sure there must have been some lost parents along the way.

It was pretty funny watching a couple first graders make shadow puppets on the wall as they stood, singing. Top row -- turning totally around and facing the wall. You could see the teachers on their way. Who me??? What was I doing??

I wondered what must go on in the minds of those little ones -- they had to sit for about thirty minutes or so. They amused each other or their parents -- or rather, their parents were probably not particularly amused by their antics. Yet, you could see parents waving back to the kids who loved to wave as they were singing -- on tune? Maybe, part of the time. But, that's what makes a kids' program so special. It is simply kids -- doing what kids do best. Sing a little, wave when they find Mom or Dad or Grandma ... turn around in circles a couple times, oops, losing our balance, are we? No one fell of the stage. Well, I take that back -- no one actually fell of the stage but the emergency personnel came when one of the kids barrelled down the aisle prior to the program and promptly landed (head first) on the pointed edge of one of the rows of seats. He appeared to be okay other than blood spurting from the wound.

Me? I was racing in at the last minute -- making it through Tampa traffic (a little after rush hour), dropping Shonna off and all of her belongings -- and finding a parking place at the back of the lot -- in a dark parking lot -- okay, I'm sort of adding to the story for effects although it was dark where I was parking. (I didn't mention that there were a lot of other folks arriving -- enough to have a cop directing the traffic.)

You always enjoy seeing a child who so enjoys what he or she is doing that they sing above the rest of the crowd. You are always afraid that if you laugh, you will find out that a parent of that child is sitting right next to you!!

What a neat evening! Lots of fun ... it's such a delight to watch a room full of kindergarten through third graders try to dazzle their parents. And the parents try to dazzle the crowd by dressing them to the nines in their Christmas dresses. Too bad they don't always train their girls to sit properly on a stage ... lol!! Oh, well ...

On to the good photo of Kamen and his mom ...