And They Shouted Out

Alexander is quite enjoying singing along to various different Christmas carols -- and I have to admit -- for someone who is only 3 he sure does have a heck of a lot of the lyrics of many different songs down pretty good.

He had to learn two songs for a performance at a local church with his daycare centre a few weeks ago -- an absolutely adorable evening -- and he did quite well. He practiced hard and was quite delighted to be singing with his group of friends. I enjoyed watching him come onto the stage -- and even though I was a couple of aisles away from Francine, trying to get a bit closer to the stage to snap off some pictures, I knew Francine was saying "fix his hat, fix his hat" quietly under her breath because this big giant Santa hat was half over his eyes as he walked out onto the stage and immediately started looking for us in the audience.


I've circled him in yellow in the picture below. There was a cute moment during one of the two songs when one very excited little boy on stage started yelling the song out at the top of his voice, completely drowning out all the other children. Without stopping his own singing, it was entertaining watching Alexander, skewed Santa hat, leaning forward and trying to see who it was who was being so rude.

I loved seeing him perform, and he did great, but have to admit the proudest moment was when he spotted me standing up at the side of the hall and gave me a hearty wave. He didn't appear at all nervous when performing -- I guess he hasn't inherited his father's stage fright.

But Alexander hasn't limited his singing of Christmas Carols to those official times that he is on stage. Nosiree. Like his father, he can be found singing along throughout the day while walking, playing, driving in the car or even in the middle of conversations.

One of the songs he's been singing regularly is "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer."

I have to smile every time he sings it, because, although he has about 98% of the song lyrics down perfectly, when he gets to the part of the song that goes . . .

Then all the reindeer loved him,
as they shouted out with glee:
"Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,
you'll go down in history!"

. . . he sings the words: "and they shouted out quickly!"

I think I prefer Alexander's version of the song. It matches the pace with which he belts out the tune (quickly) and it makes a bit more sense. I mean, those reindeer were mean to him his whole life and are only now friends with him because he was able to famously get Santa out of a jam. I doubt they'd be gleeful for Rudolph's success, but given their fickle nature, saying they "shouted out quickly" suggests a sudden change of heart or 360 in their attitude -- so in my mind "quickly" works a lot better.

Given his affection for singing Christmas themed songs, I wonder if, like his father, he might delight in singing random Christmas Carols at the wrong time of year, like, say belting out "Walking In A Winter Wonderland" in the middle of July or breaking into "Up On The Rooftop" in the spring -- only time will tell I suppose . . .