stage fright

Today was Preschool Sunday at church, and Dennis stood at the front with all the other little ones from his school. The music started and he looked like a deer caught in headlights. He did some hand motions, looked around a good bit, picked his nose once, and spent the rest of his time 'on stage' staring at all the people crammed into the sanctuary. We dutifully video taped every second of it, like good parents do, but there wasn't a bit of singing from our kid's mouth! When we asked him about it afterward, he said "I was too nervous to sing!". The church kids have a performance scheduled for the evening of December 12, and I wonder if he'll be the same way then!

We returned to the church this afternoon to decorate for Christmas. I thought I'd be watching a herd of children so that other parents could decorate, but Dennis was the only little one. He helped as much as he could! He and I took the cornucopia and fruit from the altar and changed the banner from green to purple in preparation for Advent. Dennis supervised the placing of the Advent wreath and the hanging of the large wreaths on the organ pipes. And he and I put the candles and greenery on the windowsills. He helped the men assemble and decorate the tree (he hung all the ornaments on two branches at the bottom, all he could reach, and when he'd turn his back, the men would stealthily move them higher on the tree) and helped me sweep and vacuum up faux pine needles. He climbed to the balcony to see if they needed some help with draping the garland. He raided my purse for my new stash of chewing gum and took a piece to everyone that was there, solemnly informing them "we don't swallow gum" as he handed out the sticks. He played the piano and would have played the organ as well if he could have gotten it to come on! He was everyone's darling, and he loved all the praise and the opportunity to socialize with everyone.

Today he was thankful for "the food that we eat" and "for our good dog".