Winter Gala 2015, the End of an Era

Fans, this past week, we marked the end of an era.  We attended our last Winter Gala (now "Winter Concert"; also known as "Winter Event") put on by the pre-schoolers of the KinderCare.  The inaugural Winter Gala in 2010 was conceived when Joe was the Toddler B room with Ms. Krystal and Ms. Nicole.  Longtime Fans will recall this was when Joe and his classmates pinged about the performance space in the St. Louis Park Rec Center, orbiting around the valiant Ms. Krystal like so many electrons around, as Little Red Caboose played in the background.  Joe pumped his arm, blowing that train horn for all he was worth.  No one was surprised when, the next year, children ranging from 15 months to 18 months were not included in the program.

But the two-year-olds were!  This next year was the year that Joe, searching in vein for us in the darkened theater, began crying before his class's performance even started and was whisked to Julie who had made her way to the side of the stage.  No one was surprised when next year, children who were not yet three were not included in the program.

Joe performed as a part of the Preschool A room in January of 2012 and then the Pre-K room in December of 2012, and then passed the torch to Clara who first appeared in the Winter Gala in January of 2014 as a member of the Preschool B classroom.

In her farewell Gala performance, Birdie took the stage (in the cafeteria of the St. Louis Park Middle School) with her Pre-K classmates to sing Let It Snow (a winter-themed play on Frozen's Let it Go) and Pre-K Lead Teacher Mr. Mark's stand-by original chant.  You can view the performance of Let It Snow here,  and of the original chant, here.  Our Birdie is fifth from the left (or stage right, if you like).  She was composed throughout, but deployed some dramatic emotion to great effect in Let It Snow.  Pay attention, in particular, after the pick-up 1:30 in, and again at the close, 2:30 in. Her class's performance as enhanced by some lighting design work which you will notice at the start of Let It Snow.

In the bambini's collective tenure at KinderCare, we have attended all five of its Galas, including both in the double Gala year of 2012.  January 2016 just won't be the same.