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 anymore 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. There was always the classic wiggly-wobbly one bad wheel too. Here I was thinking the afternoon was going to be nothing but a long-winded boring clock-counting 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 the 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 curtain drawn and my job done there were only the usual five minutes of shushing and the teacher threatening to turn off the movie three times before the room fell pin-drop silent. Followed by a little elementary fart. A quick “I’m warning you!” Then, we were ready. All eyes trained on that teeny tiny audio-video TV, that had just enough light to spot everyone’s smile.

And…scene!!!