BAH Humbug

What do you get when take a pizza box combined with a cereal box and a can of black spray paint...

Add a thrift store plaid Christmas jacket...

and a colorful scarf from a donating Grandmother...

Plus, a pair of reading glasses from the large selection of lost and found at SKyPAC...

and an old pair of black gloves with the fingers cut out....

You get Ebenezer Scrooge, of course!

Plano had their Christmas program, "Melton the Warm-Hearted Snowman" for 1st and 2nd graders last night at the school.  Normally, the kindergartners also participate, but with our growing school (and 80+ kinders), there wasn't enough room for everyone.  I can't imagine if there had been 80 more sets of people in the crowd last night.  It was a packed house.  What's cool about being a 2nd grader is that many of the children get speaking parts. Click on this link for Karson's "How the Penguin's Saved Christmas" 2nd grade performance.  Isaac isn't the most organized of chaps so I knew about the performance but never received the permission slip that was supposed to come home granting children speaking parts (it may have been deliberately lost?).  I knew he wouldn't be interested in a part so it never crossed my mind.  I even asked him about it, and he said "NO, I don't want a speaking part."  I can't remember at what point I spoke to Ms. Cothran, our music teacher, but she told me she had assigned Isaac the speaking part of Scrooge.  My jaw dropped.  I told her I would do my best to convince him to do it.  When he got home from school that day, we had a long talk about the process.  Ms. Cothran had told me that the teachers hand picked students they felt would be good in these roles, and Isaac's teacher had selected him because he's one the strongest readers in her class.  I explained this to him and what an honor it was to be selected--blah, blah,blah---you need to do this---blah, blah, blah---you will do this---blah, blah,blah---all your friends will be up there with you and so on.  He finally agreed after three hours (j/k) of pleading, begging, urging, encouraging, you get the point.

This is my new favorite picture!!!

I immediately got to work on the costume which I knew would be tricky to pull off.  There are lots of pictures of Ebenezer in his PJ's, but I was determined to make Isaac business Scrooge, not nighttime Scrooge.  I solicited ideas from some creative friends along with the internet and viola, a Scrooge masterpiece was formed. 

My Christmas Elves!

The kids did a practice performance in front of the entire school yesterday.  I asked Karson how it went and she said Isaac did really good.  I was so proud of him.  There is nothing easy about speaking in front of large crowds, especially your peers.

We arrived at the school around 5:20 to drop Isaac off, get a good parking spot and a good seat.  I was flying solo because Matt had a bowling match and wouldn't be able to get the performance until showtime or later.  I should've known my wonderful mother would already be there reserving some great seats.  Thanks Mom!  I went into Ms. Cothran's classroom to tell her Scrooge had arrived (and to show off my lil' cutie pie).  She pulled him aside and told him, "now remember what we talked about today.  You told me Isaac has a soft, gentle voice, but not Scrooge, he is LOUD.  And you're Scrooge so you need to be loud so everyone can hear you."  I thought that was the cutest thing ever!  She's just plain awesome!

The program was so sweet.  They always are!  

The synopsis of the musical: Melton is everyone's friend. In fact, he's so full of love and cheer, that the tiniest thing sets his heart aglow and his body a-meltin'. One chorus of Oh Christmas Tree and he shrinks an inch! Not a good situation if you are a snowman! With a heart that warm, he'll soon be nothing but slush!  The children are trying their best throughout the play to figure out a way to keep Melton from melting.  They plead with different groups to help them with their task.  Finally, Santa comes to the rescue.

Here is Isaac's video clip.

And here is his CHEERING squad after the performance.  My children certainly have a large support system--very COOL!

Getting some love from his family!  We are incredibly proud of our Scrooge.  He did wonderfully, like we all knew he would!  BAH Humbug!!!