Lest you think I'm sitting around crying into my muffins, Part 1

Note:  This was supposed to be a recent picture of Sonar X8 in his Christmas getup.  For some reason that other one won’t load.  So instead you get this delightful substitute from five-hundred years ago.  He’s still this cute sometimes.  

Sonar X8 and his classmates have recently read The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo.  Lovely book.  Like many good books, especially ones for children, this one has been made into a movie, which opens in U.S. theaters today.  

Today also happens to be the last day of school before the two-and-a-half week Winter Holiday, and an early dismissal day at that.  The classes are having their holiday parties and puzzle exchanges and chaos-inducing whatnot.  

The third grade teachers decided that the coincidence of all of these things—book, movie, party day—was just too much to pass up and gave a call to our lovely, independently-owned, local movie theater and arranged a nine a.m. screening of The Tale of Despereaux for the entire third grade.  

To make this work, the third graders are having a holiday breakfast, and skipping the holiday assembly (a performance of Christmas standards by the fourth graders).  First thing this morning, they got hopped up on donuts, candy canes and cookies (and yes, milk, OJ, and pigs in a blanket), then 120 third graders and their teachers and aides boarded yellow dogs to drive a half mile to the theater.  

(I wonder about the choice to use buses for this trip, since the buses have to drive about a half mile from the school to the theater, but if the kids walked through the municipal park between the school and theater, they’d have to trek about a quarter of a mile.  Perhaps they were worried about the weather.  Or potential escapees.  No telling.)  

As we speak, Sonar X8 and his classmates are among the first children to see the new film, a fact that they giggled about so deliciously, as if they were getting away with something.  While at the theater, they’ll get a fresh injection of popcorn and soda and then go back to school for a nutritious lunch.  Ha.  

Supposedly the teachers are going to haul them all back to the classrooms after that for some kind of “Compare and Contrast” activity.  Should they attempt this activity (as opposed to sending them outside for recess for the rest of the day) I think they might need to be certified.  Should they succeed, I think I’ll have to send them a bottle of bourbon to sooth their frayed nerves.  

Luckily they’ll have sixteen, third-grader-free days to recover.