Luke's First Christmas Concert

Despite his refusal to participate in the Christmas concert, at the very last moment (while the other children were walking past him ringing their bells), Luke grabbed some bells and walked up on stage in his Pink Floyd t-shirt with the rest of his sweater-vested, frilly skirted preschool class.  He rang the bells (a little), and he did the motions to the songs (when everyone squatted and for him to continue standing would have drawn too much attention to his non-participation), and at the end he received a little gift from his teachers and let me take his photograph.  Mostly he watched the other children in a bemused sort of way that seemed to be saying, "I am participating in this culturally approved holiday rubbish as an experiment to discover why children smilingly insist on humiliating themselves in front of their parents," and occassionally giggled.  I may never know why he didn't want to participate (all he would say was that he wanted to sit with me and Derek), but I will never stop wondering what was going through his head as he stood there with his lips sewn shut, watching the other children recite poems and sing Christmas songs.  I can tell you what was going through my head:  Why do we make our children do this nonsense?  Isn't it all a tad ridiculous?  Does it have potential to damage my son, or is it all in good fun?  Who is having fun?  Is anyone having fun?  What is it they are enjoying about this? And why am I such a party-pooper? Let's eat the cookies, already.

Perhaps Luke was channeling my own thoughts...