December 14th, was yet another milestone for Noah. As you know this is a year of many "lasts" for him, but also on the positive side also many "firsts" too. So, last week, a slightly toothless Noah performed and enjoyed his *very last* Christmas play/recital at the Catholic yochien.
Noah will leave this yochien knowing how to play, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on the harmonica as well as a few other songs. : )
The Sakura-gumi got the ball rolling with 2 songs, 1 song they sang and 1 song they performed with musical instruments.
Noah ringing the bells, jingle jingle.
I love this song. It's one of my favorites from the yochien. They switch the words to this at graduation, at least they did when Branden went here and the kids all sang, where the words were something like..." thank you mother for all that you did with helping me at school" "now I will try my best at my new school. Thanks for all that you did. All of us mothers cried our eyeballs out at that time. And I'm pretty much expecting the same thing too for Noah's graduation. Anyway...this is a beautiful song, both versions. : )
First play the Sakura-gumi did was, "Kin no gacho". Here's Noah's best friend H trying to chop the tree down.
Then came 3 little men, think drwafs. @_@ lol.
Yes, 3 giggly, all smiling dancing and 1 slightly toothless Noah.
Noah picking something.
They were thirsty in this pic.
Phew good thing H was around! ; )
Yay a golden gacho!
Tada! : ) Come on not bad for kindergarten, right!? : )
And the audience all cheered. I clicked and clapped, clicked a picture and clapped some more.
The Sakura-gumi.
The other classes went and did their plays as well. They were all great. And then the final play of the year was the story of the baby Jesus. What a beautiful Mary she was. That's S-chan one of Noah's good friends and swim friends. She's a level 7 too. : )
Go H! : ) H and Noah had a lot of speaking parts for the last play. I thought H did wonderfully! I was very proud of Noah *and* his best friend.
Back to the story. Joseph and Mary, went knocking on this door and asked if they could sleep there that night but they were turned away. : ( Turned away 3 times in the play.
Aha! And who comes out to give a short little talk? Noah! He did so good, unfortunately I only got half his speech down below, considering it only lasted like 10 seconds and by the time I snapped this picture, he was half done. : (
Only a pinch of Noah's speech since I wasted/used some time/seconds taking that picture up above. But at least it gives you an idea. I tried. : )
And some additional speaking parts, for Noah, H and a few other kiddos.
Noah and his fellow shephards listening to the angels.
This is the part where I greatly debated sharing with you. But I finally decided to share this, so please don't laugh at me for sharing this. So there was Noah sitting at the right as a shephard. And then my eyes looked left and I saw 3 tiny sheep. And in that 1 split second, my eyes teared up some. And no,I didn't want anyone to see my eyes tear up at all and nobody noticed either. I don't want anyone teasing me for that, you know. Why did I tear up like that? Because while I'm not emotionally stunted and I do have feelings same as everyone, I also, do not cry at the drop of a hat either. The reason I did tear up though was, in that instant at glancing at those tiny little sheep, I remembered and yes...this was another "coming full circle" moment for me. That is how Noah started and began his journey all those years ago at his first Christmas play. Noah started out as a tiny little sheep. I remembered what he looked like exactly. How Noah sat there amongst the older class kids. And looked at my face in the audience for reassurance. And I smiled and nodded at him as to say..."you're okay" And now flash back to now and Noah is now the shephard. A full circle indeed. Do you remember this?
Noah chan Christmas recital 2009 and S chan. His swimming friend. I remembered this.....my sweet little baby.
Noah looking at me... as to ask..."am I okay mama?" yes Noah-chan honey you are. And... he really was. : ) And that was his shephard on the right.
And now, it was Noah's turn to herd the sheep. And though he's just 6 years old. And believe me, as someone in their 30's, I know how truly young being 6 is. But wow...from where Noah started to now, he's grown so much. And my heart was just beaming.
Walking over to get their sheep.
Very carefully, Noah looks back and takes her hand and gently leads her away.
Well done, baby, well done!
And then towards the end of the play, they came in to pay respects to the baby Jesus. Noah and his adorable little sheep.
At this point, all us parents are snapping that last photo. It was our last opportunity to take Christmas recital pics. We were all snapping like mad.
I really like this picture. it's a good one of Noah and his best friend, Hikaru.
Last song. We all clapped. Noah came out and asked us, "how did I do?" I said, "honey you rocked! You did so good and I was so proud of you today!" Then we 3 hopped in the car and went to lunch. Branden was at school at this time.
I had kabocha curry, salad, tandoori chicken and naan. Everyone had a combo/set. Noah had the kids curry set, with ice cream for dessert. And Noboru needing his rice had curry and rice. Noboru said, naan is nice but he needs his rice. : ) And there you have it, closing up, yet another "last"...Noah's very last Christmas recital at the yochien. We love you *so* much Noah!
A week late, gomen gomen. But bright side is better late then never. ; ) Here is Noah and the rest of the yurigumi's singing a Christmas song. Noah's back row 3rd from the left and his very best friend H is back row all the way to the left. : )
Some dinged the triangle and some jingled bells. ; ) Noah and H, did the triangle. : ) They both did a very good job!
This was the blue badge (oldest class) and they did the Wizard of Oz. You can see Dorothy. Toto is far right, and next to Toto is/was, the scarecrow and the tinman who wore a band with tin color pieces on it. ; ) And as you can see, they just met the cowardly lion and Dorothy just pretend slapped him for trying to bully Toto. I hope Noah's class does this next year. I enjoyed this play *so* much!
The people of Oz to the left...and see Oz? Yes it was just a kid holding an Oz poster the kids made...but this is just kindergarten. So I think they actually did a wonderful job! : )
The Wicked Witch and flying monkeys. And they did throw some bucket with fake water on her and she did not die. Nope no death at our yochien. LOL. She ran away, lol. : )
Noah's class also did Hansel and Gretel. See the gingerbread house? ; )
3 little boys were forest fairies. Noah was one of them. : )
Noah danced, he shook his little leaves and his caboose too! He did very good you guys. : )
Go Noah go! Go little forest guys go! ; )
Hansel and Gretel also ended on a very happy note. ; ). Which is nice because of the kids age. But man...I could have sworn in the real story Gretel outsmarted the witch and ended up pushing her in the oven. So no baked or toasted witch ending here. ; )
Such a beautiful little boy!
The closing bit of Hansel and Gretel.
The blue badge class (the oldest class) does the story of Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus every year and I am so glad they tell this story every year too.
After the Christmas recital, Noboru and I took Noah out to lunch to celebrate what a wonderful job he did. We went to Coco's. Had the drink bar and some lunch. We knew grandma Mitsuko would be arriving that night to attend a 2nd showing of the Christmas recital the next day. Which is a grandparents only showing.
The only picture I managed to take while grandma Mitsuko was here last week for Noah's Christmas recital. We dropped Noah and grandma Mitsuko off around 9am and swung around and picked them up around 12:30pm. And then went and had lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant.
Noboru, Noah, grandma Mitsuko and I enjoyed a nice leisurely lunch and then we headed back to our house where uncle Jun and my niece Mia met us because they were going to spend an hour with grandma Mitsuko too before she flew back to Osaka. So uncle Jun and my niece came inside the house for about 5-10 minutes (a bit of a time crunch with grandma's flight and all). My niece was wearing Disney princess sneakers. So she and I, in the genkan, named the princesses on her shoes together (all four or five of them that were on there), which she loved doing that. I also felt it my duty as auntie to inform her that auntie Gina's favorite was Belle. ; ) Then Noah said...would you like to go upstairs in my room and play? : ) And she said yes! So Noah and Mia went upstairs in Noah's room to play toys and then it was sadly time to leave (so quick...too quick, they were right in the middle of playing grocery store because I could hear the toy scanner beeping food and the toy cash register ringing things up, lol)...but like I said, sadly there was a time crunch and so Jun, Mia and my mil drove away. Mia did not want to leave our house. She was quite upset at having to leave, I take this as a good sign because that means she likes us if she doesn't want to leave. Jun was trying to convince her they had to go. And I meanwhile told her....I will see you in a few short days...in the airplane okay? And I might have something for you. That did the trick and so she left happily and waved us all goodbye. That was last Thursday. After they left I hopped in the car went and picked up B from elementary school. Then dropped of the kids at Kumon. Ran home prepped dinner then swung back and did a kid pick up. It was a busy few days last week. Plus I had cookies to bake...luggage and carry-ons to pack. Yada yada. Plus the next day was the candle service at Noah's yochien.
And this pic is of last Friday's candle service last week at Noah's yochien. I was sorta running on fumes by the time last Friday got here, but I kept thinking....just last until Friday after school...just make it that long.
The candle service began. The candles were all lit. One person lights a candle and they turn to the next person and they in turn light the following persons candle...all the way down the rows of seats of us mother's. Sorta like dominoes if that makes sense. It's very quiet and very beautiful. All the kids come in...sit down on their seat. The kids don't touch the candles. Each class sings a song. Us mother's sang a few Christmas songs.
My candle, it was quite hard taking a picture of my candle without (a) burning myself and (b) dropping my camera...so not the best picture in the earth but the best I could do considering the circumstances. ; )
2 people from each class were given the honor of giving the baby Jesus gifts. Noah and his classmate Yukina-chan were chosen from the yurigumi class. which is pictured here...sorta blurry or grainy and the lighting is nil. But you get the idea. : ) Anyway that was Noah's yochien Christmas recital for 2010. Can't believe next year will be his last one. Sniff sniff. It will be bitter sweet for me next year, you guys. ; )
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