Christmas is Coming

I've been getting delightful things in the mail.  I got two different boxes filled with 70s and 80s Star Wars figures to give to my nephew (he was more fascinated with my "old ones" than with any of the new Star Wars stuff in stores), and an exquisite coffee table book in the mail this week.  The latter came today, and is awesomeness.

   Today was the last day of the school year until January.  Shortened classes and then a Christmas assembly, with me up first.  And later.  I went up and did two songs, and suffered a flood of far more adrenaline than is pleasant or useful, like often happens.  How it works for me is, I go up, I hold back the tide of adrenaline, and perform, and then as soon as I'm done, I let go and my blood is flooded with it and I get the jitters and the shakes, I talk fast, my voice wobbles, and so on.  Usually it lasts for about five or ten minutes. Thing is, today it didn't go away at all, and I knew I had to go up and do two more songs.
  The first set went okay, though.  I'd had a premonition that my video "I Live Alone," (it's making the rounds at the school) might be fondly mocked, so I had done a big intro about how I was going to start things off by playing a traditional Christmas carol from the 1100s, in what is known as "old English," with a particularly difficult key and time signature, about a little shepherd boy who grows up to be an actual shepherd, and one day he meets Someone Very Special.  And then I sang "I Live Alone" about my cat peeing on my bed.
   There was much hilarity from students who knew the video and now got to see the song performed live, and even more hilarity from students who didn't know I did stuff like that.  Then I did "Do You Hear What I Hear?" more seriously, and it went okay.  I would have done "O Holy Night," like I've done in years past, but one of the exchange students from China was going to do it, so I didn't want to step on his toes.  I was nervous, so I purposely skipped the fourth verse in each of those two songs, and got down, with huge cheers.

   I saw that one of my students was dressed as me, which made me laugh.  She had a wig, and eyeliner all over her cheeks.  I waited to see what fun they'd make of us, their teachers, and as usual, they were pretty nice.  My mini-me mimed me texting on my phone off to one side like I do in class (I let kids use their phones in the threshold of the classroom so they're not doing that at their desks all class long, and I get my school emails and stuff and I walk over and use my phone there too), and she got a ukulele and sang the line "I Live Alone"  (which I'd already sang for the room, in case anyone was going to do that.)  Huge hilarity.  At the end of the skit, all the "teachers" danced wildly, and "I" stood immobile among them, with my hands clasped in front of me.  I looked down and I was, indeed, standing just like that.

   Then I had to go up for my next two songs and I was awash with an uncontrollable tide of adrenaline that built and built and built.  The shakes, chills, clumsy, talking double-speed, couldn't think.  Sang a passable version of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer," noting how many kids knew every word and were singing along.  500 pairs of eyes on me.  Then I butchered "So This Is Christmas."  Actually stopped twice and restarted the song before I could do it.  Third try I was just getting through it okay, and Mini-Me joined me on stage and pretended to sing along with me, which was hilarious and really made the whole performance.  I came back home and my book was waiting for me.