I haven’t been near a school in a gazillion years, and I have no idea but would hazard a guess that teachers no longer have to wheel things into the classroom to spring an afternoon movie on their students. I’m pretty sure classroom technology has far surpassed what I remember. But, when I do remember, I think about what that feeling was like when I returned to my seat after lunch and my homeroom teacher wheeled that bad boy into the room you see pictured above. There was always that classic wiggly-wobbly one-bad wheel that squeaked as it was rolled into place in front of the classroom. Here I was thinking the afternoon was going to be nothing but a long-winded boring clock-watching lecture, and now I’m in charge of pulling the thousand-pound navy blue curtains close. This afternoon was going to be awesome.

Ah, the afternoon school Christmas movie. There’s no better send-off to a holiday break if you ask me. It was certainly the case when I was a kid in awe that very day many Christmases ago. Now, with the curtains drawn and my important job complete, there were only another five minutes of our teacher shushing before the movie started. Threatening the movie would go off if the room did not fall silent until a pin-drop could be heard. Then, followed by a little elementary fart. A quick “I’m warning you!” Then, we were finally ready. All eyes trained on that teeny tiny audio-video TV, that had just enough light to spot everyone’s smile.

And…scene!!!