Pirates of Pinataville

Dear Laney,

Yesterday morning, your dad and I attended the holiday show at your elementary school, called "The Pirates of Pinataville." In the middle of a week when we had a million other things going on, one of the items on my To Do list had been "Send Laney to school on Friday dressed as a Mexican peasant girl." 

We stood in the back of the auditorium, smooshed in with hundreds of other parents and grandparents and took our first look at the program. That's when we realized that the kindergarteners would be going last. My mother always said, "If there's a loooong program with a bunch of kids, rest assured yours is going to go last after you've watched everybody else's young'uns sing." 

Here's the plot of "Pirates of Pinataville," best as we could tell: 

There's a peace-loving, pinata-making town called Pinataville. One day, a bunch of pirates (who love to play the recorder, as most pirates historically did) sneak into Pinataville and steal all the pinatas. The Pinatavillians decide to get back at the pirates by filling a second round of pinatas with hot peppers. The pirates eat the peppers and see the error of their ways and apologize. The Pinatavillers decide to forgive them, because "Christmas is about forgiveness." [And the manufacturing and export of pinatas.]

Cue the kindergarteners to celebrate. 

When the kindergarten classes had filed in, you ended up front and center. And girl, you truly channeled your inner, oppressed Pinatavillian:

And then, in a move your dad and I were not expecting, you stepped off the bleachers, walked up to the microphone in front of the rest of the school and HAD A SOLO. 

You sang a verse of something in Spanish, and I clutched your dad's arm in complete shock because we had NO IDEA you'd be singing. Your dad shrugged and said, "Of course she is."

To wrap things up, a second grade teacher came out dressed as a pirate and sang Feliz Navidad. That's you, front and center, the only one acting out the lyrics to the Jose Feliciano classic.

The pageant had almost nothing to do with the holidays, and was probably completely insensitive to our neighbors to the south. But my baby sang, so to hell with global awareness. 

Love,

Mom