Switched to Journey to Bethlehem at Disney Plus while making my bed and doing chores. I go further into this pop retelling of the birth of Christ at my Musical Dreams Movie Reviews blog.
It had been raining all morning. Not hard, just enough that it was too wet and chilly for the bike. I called for Uber to get me to the Thomas Sharp School. Fortunately, no trouble getting where I was going either way. They took 13 minutes going there, but I called early enough that I still arrived right on time. They came in 4 minutes going home.
On one hand, I don't think you'll be surprised to hear the kids were really rowdy today, especially in the first hour. On the other hand, there were just 12 pre-schoolers and kindergartners to start with, and only slightly more older kids. After lunch, we first settled them down to color and play with magnetic blocks. I gave them papers from my old Sesame Street coloring book that I've had for almost 20 years and really want to get rid of. After they got bored with that, a couple of the girls requested stories. I read Frozen and my own copy of The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas.
The kids spent most of the second half of the afternoon doing crafts. The younger ones resumed making pipe cleaner and bead jewelry and ornaments. The older children created cards for their parents by gluing beads and squares of colored tissue paper onto construction paper. We initially listened to Christmas songs while we worked. Later on, someone found a sheet and a projection machine, allowing one of the teachers to run The Polar Express.
They were all really excited when Santa came to the cafeteria about mid-way through the day, bearing a box covered in Mario wrapping paper with presents for all of them. Actually, I think the presents were fancy pencils or crayons, but that was enough for most of the kids. (Don't tell them, but I'm pretty sure "Santa" was a custodian or male Healthy Kids worker wearing a red shirt, suspenders, and a Santa beard and hat. I might be wrong, of course.)
The kids can be so sweet. They've done more for me this year than they'll ever know. Two gave me Amazon gift cards. Two more gave me WaWa gift cards. One gave me a smaller gift card to Dunkin' Donuts. One of the parents praised how we'd gotten her son to work with beads - in fact, he'd been working on bead ornaments for most of the afternoon - when his teachers said he needed to do more with his hands. It really made me feel appreciated and realize how important we are to these kids.
Ran the first Christmas episode of MASH when I got home. "Dear Dad" is Hawkeye's letter to his father about the wacky goings-on at the 4077th during the holiday season. Frank and Klinger get into a brawl that Father Mulcahey has to break up and hide from the police. Hawkeye and Trapper play pranks on Hot Lips and Frank in her cabin before one of their dates. Henry tries to give his troops an awkward lecture on sex, with predictably goofy results. Hawkeye and Trapper also catch Radar sending a jeep home to his family in boxes piece by piece.
Jessa picked me up around 6:20. She originally wanted to hit the Cherry Hill Mall to buy something for clients...then we saw the traffic around the mall and the full-to-bursting parking lot. We just ended up eating across the street at a much safer Silver Diner instead. This time, she had a tuna melt and fries. I had a tasty California omelet with egg whites, chicken, cheddar cheese, scallions, tomatoes, and whole wheat toast. She had her office party today and wasn't up to dessert, but I tried their tasty, sweet apple-walnut bread pudding topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel drizzle.
Finished the night at home with the Remember WENN Christmas episode. Everyone at radio station WENN is gearing up for "Christmas In the Airwaves." The arrival of Rollie Pruitt (Johnathan Freeman) puts a crimp in their plans. He's the financier for the station's owner, singer Gloria Redmond (Betty Buckley), who lost her husband last Christmas. Gloria is grieving so much, she doesn't want any Christmas shows or references to Christmas at the station. Pruitt, who just wants her to write the station off and get the tax benefits, agrees. It'll take teamwork, a bit of holiday subterfuge, and a really sweet speech to make Gloria understand that Christmas is wonderful time for a heart to start healing.
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