Danielle's Christmas Program

Danielle's Christmas program was last night. She looked beautiful and was so excited to sing on stage. I had a hard time getting decent pictures, but trust me, she looked beautiful.

When her class lined up on stage, Danielle ended up getting squished behind a couple other kids. We couldn't see her at all from where we were sitting. I moved over to the other side and sat on the floor in front so I could try to get some pictures. I was so disappointed. I was disappointed we couldn't get her first performance on tape (because Ron couldn't see her) and disappointed that her family - who had all rearranged their schedules and spent time traveling to be there - couldn't see her. I tried not to let her know I was disappointed, because I certainly wasn't disappointed with her. I was proud of her for bravely standing up there despite being sick, tired, and squished, for practicing her songs, and just for being Danielle. But I was disappointed.

I was thinking about the program again this morning and kind of had a revelation. I was disappointed that all our family couldn't see Danielle sing, but that really wasn't why they were there. Yes, they wanted to see her, but their presence was more to tell Danielle that they loved & cared for her and supported what she was doing, even if they couldn't physically see her. Their attendance and the praise lavished on her at the end - those were the important parts of the program. So there really wasn't any reason to be disappointed. There were 11 of us there to watch, encourage, and applaud her. I think that sounds pretty successful after all.

When I downloaded the pictures and video today, I saw more than I did last night. Take this first video, for example. Poor little guy must have got poked in the eye by the dramatic girl on his left just before I started recording.



Here is one of the better videos I got of Danielle. Not all these kids are in her class. There are two 4 year old classes & they combined them for the program.



At the end of the program, all the classes gathered back on stage to sing Go Tell It on the Mountain. Last night I didn't notice the antics of the little girl next to Danielle.



Afterward we gave Danielle a chance to perform just for us. I missed the curtsey at the end.