The day after.

The day after Thanksgiving, the parents of the 2nd graders put together a small party to celebrate the holiday with the kids. Of course it too wasn't a holiday so we congregated in the Little Theater at ISM. Us and nearly a hundred 7 and 8 year olds.

First impression, they are astonishingly well behaved. Second impression, they put up with our wacky parental ideas of "fun" very well.
On the Tuesday prior, I gathered with some other moms to cut out parts for Indian headbands and Pilgrim hats. I had also attended a planning meeting where we'd discussed what sorts of activities were going to be held. I didn't tell Katherine I was doing any of this. The kid has to be surprised about some things (much like the charade we're pulling on how the Chamber of Secrets computer game really isn't worth buying for Christmas, even while it's been sitting in the closet for well over a month. We get almost a daily update on Why This Game Is Great from her).
I arrived in the Little Theater with boys in tow and the kids had already filed in and were listening to a small presentation on the history of Thanksgiving. I was helping man the Indian headband table as the kids also rotated through a Thankful Tree station, a pamphlet of facts/jokes/seek-n-find from early America, a taste of modern yet traditional foods station, and an area for Pilgrim games. Once everyone was wearing the headress of choice, had eaten some turkey and apple pie and finished up at each table, each class split themselves into two rows, faced each other and did a version of the Virginia Reel. OK, so they'd practiced this is music class before and the music wasn't exacly early American (more like a Scottish Jig), but it was fabulous to the point of me laughing until I cried.
It just made me smile to glance into the playground on the way to the car and see little Indians climbing the monkey bars. The kids had a wonderful time, Katherine came home telling Ian that "Mom was there too!" and I'm still trying to figure out who had more fun... the kids or the parents.