Here she comes a-wassailing

Last Thursday was Christmas caroling day at Edith's school. The parents arrived to join the kids on the playground late in the afternoon to hear them perform the carols they had been practicing for weeks and help them hang edible ornaments on a Christmas tree for the birds.

Of course the children had been practicing the songs without printed music, but on the day of the performance the teachers provided a packet of songsheets for the parents, lest Mom and Dad be less well-rehearsed than their offspring. Edith seized on the packet and insisted on singing each song with the paper in front of her. The next day she brought the packet back in to school for show-and-share (M for music) and performed some of the songs again for her classmates. Apparently they more or less had to get her off the stage with a hook so that nap time could start. On Saturday we attended a Christmas open house at the home of friends who are music lovers, and Edith presented the people jamming on guitars and other stringed instruments in the corner with a series of requests from her song packet. Today the packet traveled with us to Sunday School. And need I say we've been playing Sing Christmas Carols all weekend?

The mystery for both us and Edith's teachers is how she knows which set of lyrics is on which page. She knew from the get-go, turning pages as soon as the packets were handed out and announcing confidently, "Joy to the World" or "Go Tell It on the Mountain," even when the songs were chosen out of order. I asked her how she knew which song was on which page, and she said, "It's because I just know." Evidently she has a deeply intuitive appreciation of clip art.

Edith's class wore homemade elf hats


While Edith's teachers concocted clever hats, her parents failed on even the simple assignment of making an edible tree ornament. Rushing to pop popcorn for a garland ten minutes before the performance, we couldn't find a sewing needle. We were only slightly comforted by the offering from Sarah's parents: a bagel on a string, ripped from one of Sarah's class projects.

Speaking of Sarah, here she is with her mom, Kate. Despite the fact that the two girls are often confused for each other at school and in photos, their only common heritage is their mothers' former residence in Jonathan Edwards College.