Elizabeth’s Journal

Jonathan, Performer Extraordinaire

This afternoon we went to the ACE Academy’s Snowtime Celebration—the first time the school has put on a winter celebration. I contributed peanut butter blossoms that were presented on Grama Sprong’s 3-tiered cookie server with various Andes mints scattered around. One little girl told me very solemnly that my cookies were very good. I felt that was high praise from the best source.

Lots of kids did stuff—most did something musical, but there was one group of 3 boys who told jokes. They stood in a single-file line behind the microphone, and each would tell one joke, then run to the back of the line and the next boy would come up to tell a joke, and so on. (Performances were limited to a maximum of two minutes.) Jonathan was one of the three boys, and he did a fantastic job. He spoke clearly into the microphone, had a good delivery, and was clearly enjoying himself immensely. No stage fright from him, and there were over 100 people in the auditorium! Lots of parents came up to me afterwards and said not only how well he did but how surprised they were since he’s so quiet and well behaved in class! If only they knew . . . once he discovered jokes, we quickly instituted a rule that he could tell us a joke only once, after that NO MORE. Even Kayleigh knows how to tell a “knock knock” joke now, although hers are usually pretty surreal.

After the program, we got a tree on our way home. Tomorrow we’ll put lights on it in the afternoon (Jonathan and I), and when Dale comes home we’ll decorate it. For some reason, it is the heaviest tree we’ve ever gotten—usually it’s easy for Dale to lift, but this one required both of us and even then it’s a struggle. At least it’s inside and ready to go now. Everyone is very excited about decorating it!