god I am awful.

Tonight we attended the school Christmas play. This is often pretty fun and entertaining. From tiny four/five year olds shuffling around and looking confused as members of the nativity to the older kids doing dance routines and reciting stuff about Christmas and then all the children singing a lovely Christmas carol or two. I really enjoy going to this every year.
It started off well with my daughter's class (reception, year one and two) doing a story of The Stickman meets the nativity. Miss Biscuit who has had a nasty cough (but pushed through because when you put that damn child on the stage she performs like Judy Garland) was the clock narrator, and then did this greek song/dance with the girls in her class and she had a bit of a solo. Again she is not shy on stage. She doesn't have the Ethel Merman voice that her friend E. has but you don't miss her.
Then came Senor Onion's class. (Year 3 and 4) and they did a version of Babushka and the Three Kings. He was a king, said his lines clearly and obviously had the best head of hair on stage. Seriously. He has very pretty hair.
My nieces were in that as well and E. who is very shy did a great job at singing, and G. who is less shy was a fantastic dancing star. I love a good folk-tale.
Then came the oldest class. (years 5 and 6) I noticed as they came in they all seemed to have... ethnic costumes. I side-eyed Mr. Jenner but thought, "okay. Let's see what happens. It could be good. A parent who had attended the preschool class/morning performance said it was funny. I now view that parent as having bad taste in comedy even if she is a lovely person with lovely children and I like her very much otherwise.
The basic premise is a bunch of people being stuck in an airport on Christmas Eve. The one genuinely funny bit was one of the kids doing the voice announcements. She captured that sort of sing-songy calm in the face of chaos announcements you get at the airport and on planes. She was funny. After that it was not so funny.
There were many pairs of kids and I am going to pause and state the obvious; here in this bit of rural England, the population is pretty damn white. We have one child in the school who is from Thailand but pretty much everyone else? WHITE. From a socio-economic perspective it is pretty varied. There are some kids who come from quite a bit of money and some who do not. Anyhow... they were all various... ethnic stereotypes. And the kids put on assorted accents to go with it. And I get that they wanted to do a thing about Christmas around the world and you can do that without veering into that territory. I wondered if it was just me who was thrown by this British sense of obliviousness to privilege and how they perceive the world around them. I asked Mr. Jenner and he said he cringed through the whole thing. I was grateful that the kids who had afros on (they were being people from Jamaica.) didn't black up. (nor did the red-headed kid who was being someone from India. Some accents though...)
And I get there is still this strangely twee view of the French and Italians. But the rest was uncomfortable. Really. A couple of kids being "Mexicans" (and that one really bothered me because yo, that is friends and family and there is soooo much to Mexican culture -especially when it comes to Christmas.) and the hokey versions of Scottish and Irish people. It was like being stuck experiencing "It's a Small World After All" circa 1962. Only with added bad bad jokes. Poor kids. Stuck with terrible writing. (the Americans of course were cowboys.) And then Santa comes and all is well and we have learned something about a couple of cultures along the way. (mainly that in Germany the Christ child brings presents and cowboys in America sing a carol about cowboys at Christmas.)


I've been talking about it with some other friends because I really wondered if I was waaaaaaaaaaaay off base or what. I figured that if Mr. Jenner (who is probably the least reactionary person I know, and who can view many things through a fairly objective perspective) sees this as being awful, it is awful. I mean would they put this play on in other parts of England? I kept thinking, "would this play in London?"

I think that after the play is over I want to have a tiny chat with the headmistress. I want to ask where that particular play came from and say how much I liked the other two and how the kids obviously worked very hard but maybe... it is good to consider (especially in this day and age) the nuances of the material chosen. And if she ever wants the kids to actually learn a bit more about certain cultures why not have more people come in to educate the kids. and I am happy to volunteer with some of these things. I want to think about this a bit because I want her to be open to listen to another perspective "OMG this is freaking uncool." and offer solutions in a polite way. "Hey these aren't far off funny stereotypes. These are real people with complex cultures and experiences and this doesn't help the kids much. Especially if you want them go be well educated and thoughtful members of society." (probably wouldn't help if I yelled, "These are my friends and family dammit. This isn't funny. Do you ever read a fucking book?")

Anyhow...
My children are talented and good looking but I knew that.

sometimes I leave the house.

I had plans to go to Barnstaple with my two sisters in law today but one had to pull out because she had to attend the school christmas dinner at her daughter's school. So K. and I decided to go since we had things to buy and this is the one day we could do before Christmas/holidays/travel.
We had a really nice time. Nothing like wandering around an enormous Sainsbury and enabling each other. "That is great. You should buy it." "That would look good on you. You need to get it." We both like finding clothes that seem a bit like pajamas but aren't -at least in terms of comfort. I ended up getting a pair of leggings with a sort of scandinavian design and yet another striped jersey dress. I am going to own all of them one day. I also helped her find a few gifts for her son. Then we went into a few other shops and I came away with the most ridiculous pajamas for Miss Biscuit. They had pink unicorns, clouds, palaces, rainbows, and hot air balloons. The other find was another mercury glass Christmas tree to decorate the house. TK Maxx is that kind of place. "why yes I do need this great item of clothing..and a cake stand." They had this enormous metal deer that had candle holders in its antlers. This thing was about as tall as a four year old. It was too much money. I think if it had been under 100 quid I might have bought it. "Hi this is our candle holder... Tarquin." If I ever win the lottery and live in some big fuck-off Georgian mansion I will have one of these deers around the house.
I need to explain the metal tree fixation I have developed in recent years. A number of years back in the Seattle times there was this article about this designer who is SERIOUS about Christmas and decorating for the holidays. I loved his enthusiasm and there were photos of how he does his house up. Martha Stewart you would be envious. There was this one one photo that had a number of these mercury glass/silver trees and it stuck in my head for a long time. They can be spendy and they aren't always easy to find but slowly I keep finding some. One in a charity shop, a couple on sale at M&S. And then today one at TK Maxx. I will have to come up with more decorating uses for them. How to explain my nature. "Hi, I am really into Christmas and I will go on these quests for some imagined idea. Heck I will go on a quest for you if you have some vague notion. We will find it!"
We bought things and then we had lunch at a place I drove by on Monday. Monty's Caribbean Kitchen is fairly new. The husband is originally from Jamaica and he met an Englishman in London. They got married, like many people in the west country she dragged her spouse here and over time they went from doing private dinners to having a food truck and now they finally have a brick and mortar place. And it is really good. My sister in law went to Jamaica last year and she has been dreaming about some of the food she had there and ta-da she can have it again. I am just giddy about more culinary options be made available. I am keen to support a new business like this. Oh the food was so damn good and everyone was so nice. We had ital carrot juice. (it has some ginger and lime with it) It reminded me of an old Odwalla juice that they stopped making years ago -which was one of my favorites. I had the jerk chicken which came with sweet potato wedges with homemade coconut and lime coleslaw and pineapple salsa. It was pure heaven. I also got a side order of fried plantains. My sister in law went for the Ackee and Saltfish with rice and peas with homemade coconut and lime coleslaw and pineapple salsa. This is her favorite thing right now. She then ordered a pattie to go. (kind of like pasties) We ate until we hurt. I didn't want to leave any food on my plate. So much damn flavor. I really didn't need to eat much dinner tonight because I was so full. I am going back to try more things on the menu.

Found presents for people, and poked around semi-civilization. (as I call Barnstaple.) And then drove home to pick up the kids. A rather fun day out.

Tomorrow it is back to laundry and yelling at people.