Happy Holidays

I hate the phrase Happy Holidays. It's a generic American-PC remark made so as not to offend people who do not celebrate Christmas, but do celebrate something else. For instance Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice. Although Solstice doesn't seem to be a widely recognized celebration in the US, either.

Anyway, I use the greeting now because I haven't posted anything in a while and thus have missed most of the holidays except for the New Year celebration, which is tomorrow.

Two days ago we held a holiday party for the kids at Cliveden Park House. We invited the children from the four different programs that run at the park, and had about thirty kids show up. I was pretty surprised, because on a good day I see "my" two girls. I had no idea there were so many kids in the neighbourhood. Luckily it was a warm-ish day and for the most part the kids played in the park on the swings and climbing frame. Some of the boys threw a footballl around, some of the girls played hide-and-seek, duck-duck-goose. Inside, to amuse some of the littler ones, we played musical statues and pass-the-parcel.

The older volunteers - mostly Grandmas - cooked up the lunch, and what a lunch it was. Salad, followed by a fruit cup, followed by spaghetti and sauce or baked penne, followed by crazy running around outside while the grown-ups cleaned up the tables and I cut the cakes. The oldest kids came in and sat down to "test" the cakes for freshness while shooting the breeze. These were the boys and girl who were been the original kids in the park. The reason the Grandmas had cleaned the place up and kicked out the drug users. They were also the first children in the park to benefit from the city grants and funding for local youth. Their ages range between 15 and 19 now. The eldest is in college, the rest are following suit.

After everyone had some cake, we asked each person to stand up and identify themselves to the group. What is their name, age, school and which program do they participate in at Cliveden. Some of them were the littler brothers and sisters of those in a program. One of them had just shown up and joined in when he saw all the children outside. But mostly they were students of the piano; of Mr Clyde's math class (where he also teaches spanish, social studies, science); and of Mr Kelvin's class on Saturday mornings. My girls stood up shyly and said that they came to Mrs Clyde's and Mr Tabby's classes (awww).

It was a great opportunity for all of us, really. Clyde and I stood up and tried to pitch our program to everyone. Clyde did a better job than me. I was tired and uptight by this point and I now wish that I had said more about just giving the kids a place to come to if they wanted to read. Mostly I concentrated on offering help to those who were having difficulty, which is also a valid contribution. But I know there were kids in the building who probably do read of their own choosing and just don't have someone who cares enough to let them do it in their own time.

As people were speaking, I snuck around with a camera and took lots of photos. My BBBS Litttle Sister, Caitlin, was with us as well, and it was her camera. Just as well because the battery had gone on mine.

At the end of the afternoon, as the kids were leaving, I had two more children come to me and tell me that they have had some trouble with reading. The boy, in 5th grade, tells me that he is reading at 3rd grade level. The girl, who is 13, tells me she wants to read all the books we have on the shelves. I don't know yet where her trouble lies, if she has any. In two weeks both kids will hopefully come and sit with us on a Monday night.

In the meantime I plan to try and write some lesson plan material ahead of time so that I can best utilize the time when I suddenly have double the amount of students.