We spent a couple of hours at the younger kids’ band and chorus concert last night. Alan had a solo on the tympani and I did not even realize that it was him playing. I couldn’t see the back of the stage except to view a mop of curly blond hair somewhere around the percussion section. Whoever was playing really nailed that solo though. I thought it was P.S., who is one of the better drummers in the band and had no idea my very own boy could play so well. Congratulations to him.

Of course no mention of the word Christmas was made on the cover of the concert program. Political correctness must matter just a bit to the school administration. Thus I expected and was delivered Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer and Jingle Bells along with the James Bond Theme. However, I was delighted to find that the program also contained a good, solid number of traditional Christmas carols, from Silent Night to the First Noel. There was a lovely old spiritual hymn, Praise his Holy Name and another Whisper, Whisper. Good solid religious fare with no thought for who might somehow be offended and thus contact the ACLU before they ate their breakfast tofu the next day. In fact by an informal count, nine of the twenty-two selections had some Christian or Jewish religious theme or made mention of some main stream religious event. That seems to be fair to me. Christian music for people there to celebrate a Christian holiday and some secular music for those who prefer it. I guess here in upstate NY we are still not afraid to show our roots. Because, after all, our roots here in this former Dutch and English enclave were certainly Christian. It was a real nice concert and worth going out with wet, frozen hair on a cold December evening.