Bernie’s December Blog

Ho! Ho! Ho! And Merry Christmas to all of my friends! Wheee-doggie: what a month it has been. I am so happy I could see firsthand all of the special Christmas activities that take place at school. Students, teachers, parents, everyone is filled with such cheer. If anyone was behind on their Christmas shopping, you’d never know.

The season started with one of my favorites: the Pancakes with Santa breakfast. I always love to see all my friends in person - and not undercover (thanks for the lollipops and hugs!). You all did a great job having your pictures taken with Santa – and I know he was happy to get all those beautifully decorated letters. Did you like my hat and scarf? The elves did a lot of sewing to make one big enough for my head. Speaking of elves, I want to thank the Home & School elves who set everything up, baked cookies, decorated, and did all the cooking and clean up. It was a totally yummy morning.

My next favorite part of December was all of the Christmas Shows. PreK 3 & 4, Kindergarten, 1^st Grade, 2^nd Grade – what a stupendous job they did. I loved all of the songs they sang, the great outfits they wore, and the special moves that went with the songs. All of the children were so cute, I could “bearly” stand it.

How about the Santa’s Secret Shoppe? How nice was that? Again, those Home & School elves were working hard to make things so special for everyone. Thank you to all the parents who came to help wrap the gifts. I got a sneak peek at some special purchase, but my paws are covering my mouth – I’ll never tell. You’ll need to wait til Christmas!

I got to see the band's Christmas Concert (standing room only in the cafeteria). If I wore socks, the students would have knocked them off. They were so composed and played beautifully. I'm proud of all the soloists. I thoroughly enjoyed the song about the Grumpy Elf...

I’d like to give a “blog of applause” to the Student Council and all of the students who performed at the Jingle Ball. There was so much beautiful singing, dancing, playing of instruments. You’d think once you heard one “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” you heard them all, but not at St. Bernadette’s. Each group put their own spin on it: Max, Katie, Emma, Matt, Liam, and Peter had terrific choreography; Dylan, Danny, Ben, and Manrajveer used cool props; Meghan, Veronica, Sydney, Marissa, and Anna had a beautiful harmony and accompanying dance performance; Mark, Dom, Juliana, Jack, Olivia, Phoebe, Nick, Kevin, and Michael had great signing and choreography, as well.

Marilynne, Lauren, Sam, Maria, Connor, and Sarah did a spoof of “Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer” – it involved “dangerous 8^th graders…” Clever.

The Preschoolers, Kindergarteners, First and Second Graders all reprieved songs from their Christmas Shows – they did an awesome job.

Solo and duet singers raised the roof: Fataday with “Silent Night”; Gia swingin’ to “Walkin’ in a Winter Wonderland”; Amelia with “What Child is This”; Leah and Madisyn sung “Jingle Bell Rock”; Bridget and Clare sung “Silent Night”; Arianna sung Silent night accompanied by Mike and Kyle; it was great to hear my friend, Mrs. Repino, singing “The Christmas Song”; and the Chamber Chorus nailed “Silent Night”.

On Dancers, on dancers, on dancers, and dancers…there were great performances by Bridget & Lizzy; Megan & Madeleine; Mikayla; the 8^th grade girls – so cool; Hailey, Jessica, and Brooke did a hula to “Mela Kalikimaka” Grace, Lucia, Jess, and Molly did singing and dancing. And, I’m still stumped by the magical tricks Dennis did…

In between all of this, there was a lot of learning to be had and tests to be taken.

Like I said: what a month! You can see pictures from all of these activities, plus the Science Explorers gang dissecting a sheep heart (yikes!) in the Photo Albums under Student Activities.

I want to wish everyone a "Beary" Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Your friend,

Bernie