Adventures in Christmas Programing.... continued

I don't know how many of you read my blog of last year's Christmas extravaganza, but basically, I got lost and was super frantic and pretty nervous going into it. So, this year, I wanted to be prepared!

The Christmas show is a big, big deal. Each class performs a dance number and there are mini-acts in between. This year, the actors were actually from our school so that was pretty cool. They did different acts of Jesus's miracles in between the songs. My group was made up of all the fifth and sixth grade girls, a ninth grader with a flag solo (brought me back to my color guard days... :D), and in the last week we added four fifth grade boys to lift pieces of fabric up and down. Mrs. Lopez (the fifth grade teacher) and I have been practicing with the girls for a month, so to have the boys thrown in at the last minute was a little bit of a challenge, but it turned out ok :) All this week we've had extra practice time, and gone down to the Vida Abundante church in Gracias because that's where we actually performed. Friday morning we had a full dress rehearsal and then sent the kids home at noon and had lunch. After lunch, we came back to decorate and set up chairs. Last year the decorating probably took us four or more hours and was super stressful, but this year almost everything was already done! So, we were able to go the homes of one of the teachers and relax and shower. Later, I joined Ana and Maggie to help Ana's girls with their make-up. (I was in charge of eyeliner and eye glitter :)) I made sure to stay with other teachers the whole night so I wouldn't get lost trying to get back to the church and we made it right on time- showered and everything!:) My girls all looked great and were pretty excited/nervous. There were a lot of important people at this event - I know the mayor was invited, I don't know if he was actually there :) The school asked the church to videotape the performance so maybe I'll have a DVD to show anyone interested :) The only problem with the recording was that the solo flag girl walked down the middle of the aisle, twirling her flags right where teh camera was set up. So, we had them move the camera. Problem one averted. Next problem, my girls were supposed to leave their row, walk around the back of the chairs and go up the side aisle to the stage. There were so many people there though, that not everyone had a seat and there was a crowd of people just standing in the back. I went through and asked them if, during the first song, they could make a path so my girls could get through, but two minutes later, the crowd in the back had doubled with people that hadn't heard my message and it was so crowded, I didn't think the girls would be able to get through anyway. So I had everyone switch spots and we just decided to inch past the fourth graders sitting in our same row. Problem two averted :) When my girls finally lined up, they all got a wine goblet with a little battery candle in it that they turned on. Everyone looked so pretty and the girls got ready to go on stage. I walked with them to the stage and then headed over to the reserved teacher's chair- except there was someone sitting in it and I had no place to go. By this time, the lights were off and the students were getting in their places. I somehow got wrapped up in the big piece of fabric the boys had and I was SO SCARED I was going to be standing there in this piece of fabric when the lights and music came back on that I panicked and just scrambled around until I was on the floor out of the way :) I wasn't really in a place where the girls could see me, but they did really well on their own, plus I think Mrs. Lopez was at least in sight. I tried to take video, but, again, my camera angle was not the best :) SO! Hopefully those DVDs are sweet! :)

Since ours was the second dance, we got it over pretty quickly, and the girls were able to sit and relax the rest of the time. It was a pretty great show, and although it had its stressful moments, it all worked out and everyone was pretty happy about the whole night :)


I'm soooooo excited to be coming home in less than a week ... although I'm not sure I'm ready to trade the sunshine for the blizzards... :/ I'm currently sitting outside sweating my face off, slightly burning my fingers while typing on my black keyboard :)