The holiday concert

So we attended Phoebe's first holiday concert tonight.

It had all the makings of being the event of the year in our household. Phoebe was so ready. She had been practicing the songs at her daycare for weeks, and she was singing them to us during evenings at home.

The other night we couldn't keep from giggling as we overheard her little voice singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" while she laid in bed.

She even taught us a couple songs -- the cutest song being  "At Christmas Time," sung to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus."

The lights on the tree go blink, blink, blink,

Blink, blink, blink,

Blink, blink, blink.

The lights on the tree go blink, blink, blink

At Christmas time.

The snow on the ground goes crunch, crunch, crunch,

Crunch, crunch, crunch,
Crunch, crunch, crunch,
The snow on the ground goes crunch, crunch, crunch,

At Christmas time.

The reindeer on the roof go tap, tap, tap,

Tap, tap, tap,

Tap, tap, tap,

The reindeer on the roof go tap, tap, tap,

At Christmas time.

So tonight was the night. Kates dressed Phoebe in a flowing purple dress and did her hair. And after a brief tantrum and fight to get her coat on, she was ready to go.

The concert took place at a small church downtown. Two and 3-year-olds were crawling all over the sanctuary. It took a good 15 minutes, probably more, for the caretakers to get all of the children lined up in rows on the altar steps. ... Just when they got close, another one would make a break for it.

Finally, the concert began ... And Kates and I sat eager to see Phoebe perform.

But she didn't sing a word. She just stood on the step, quiet and stone-faced with her hands in her mouth. She stayed that way for each of the three songs her class performed.

Sigh.

When the last song ended, a man dressed in a Santa suit burst through the doors.

Then Phoebe's face lit up. And to her delight, the man walked in front of Phoebe and sat down beside her.

She had a prime position to be first in line for the right to sit on the Santa's lap ... until the other children bombarded the Santa and Phoebe slowly ended up at the back of the pack. Small boys worked their way in front of her to get closer to Santa, but Phoebe hardly batted an eye, which made it the saddest and cutest thing to watch all at once.

Phoebe was patient. And eventually she got her turn. She told Santa she wanted Play-doh for Christmas.