Christmas Party for the Kids

First of all, apologies for neglecting the updates over the last few weeks. Time to play catch up. Before Christmas, I volunteered to help throw a little Christmas party for underprivileged and handicapped children at a Thai elementary school. We were to entertain three age groups in three shifts for a couple hours each. We had three activities prepared for the party. The first was telling "The Night Before Christmas" story to the children in Thai. I wonder if this was their first introduction to Santa or Christmas, and as odd as it is to thrust a Christian holiday onto a group of Buddhist children, no one seemed to have a problem with it. The story was complimented by none other than a powerpoint presentation of pictures somewhat relating to the story as it was told. The westerners in the room could have pointed out the disconnect between the pictures and the story, but the kids loved it. Worthy to note: the first activity for all the kids in the morning is their anthem to the King (in which they sing and play xylophone-like instruments) followed by their daily exercise aerobics to a hip hop song with explicit lyrics that the kids don't understand but are happy to dance to. Only here.

Oh before I forget, I absolutely need to mention the behavior of these kids. Do me a favor and picture an assembly hall of 70 children ages 7-10, anticipating a super fun party they've been looking forward to for weeks. Don't do it for too long because you might get a headache from all the screaming and chaos in your head. The kids at this school were nothing like what you just pictured. I promise you. They were angels. Little Buddha loving angels. For example, before they were allowed into the hall where we were still setting up that morning, the teachers lined up their students and had them sit in rows on the steps outside. Observation number 1, they actually sat down in rows. Observation number 2, they stayed there. Observation number 3, they lined their shoes up against the wall in neat rows. Observation number 4, and this is the one that blows me away, they meditated. Meditated! Now I can hardly sit still without talking, and I know a whole lot of people who are the same, but these kids! I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until I realized there was nothing but silence coming from outside the door and all the noise was from the adults who were still setting up. I peeked outside and there sat little bodies in rows with an eerie wisdom and calmness. Luckily I knew right then that if I told someone about this they wouldn't believe me so I snapped a photo.

The second game we played after the story (which they obviously sat through with good behavior), we played "Pass the Parcel," which is obviously a British name of the game and I can only think those words with a British accent now. Basically it's a game where we prepared little gifts wrapped several times with layers and layers of newspaper, and between each layer is a little treat or candy. The kids sit in a circle and pass the gifts around while Christmas music plays (as it turns out, Feliz Navidad was the first track on the CD I made and the kids loved it- thanks Adam.) and when the music stops the person holding the gift gets to remove a layer and keep the treat. Observation number 5, they weren't greedy little monsters. When the music stopped and last child holding the gift, he usually looked confused and handed it over to the person next to him. Another group of girls did something extraordinary. They passed the gift around exactly to the beat of the music so there was no discrepancy of who ended with the gift. Then they agreed that instead of keeping the prize for themselves, they put each little treat in the middle of the circle, into a community pot, if you will. They would cheer for the person each time the gift was opened and the girl would graciously add it to the middle pile. At the end of the game, they agreed to divide the prizes equally among the whole group so no one was left out. Based on this alone, I think the world would be a more peaceful place if women ruled it.

The last activity was letting the kids make Christmas cards. This was my favorite part of the party where we got to get on the floor with the kids and really interact with them. Coloring, cutting, gluing...made me want to be a kid again. It was an interesting experience because the kids don't speak any English and I used a few little encouraging phrases in Thai but for the most part I spoke in easy English because their teachers wanted them to hear the rare native tongue. So we were speaking different languages but we still got along and had a great time.

On top of it all, the kids were incredibly beautiful. I've got loads of pictures and you will probably agree. I became instantly attached and enamored. We entertained three large groups in all, about 170 children total. I think they had a great time and it was quite humbling to see how thrilled they got over little bits of candy or pencil case prizes or their pride in their Christmas cards. Love it. I meant for this to be posted closer to Christmas to try and encourage some to volunteer for a holiday event for underprivileged kids but the truth is, there is never a bad time to volunteer for something or someone you care about.