Giggle All The Way

We’ve just got back from DD’s Christmas music concert. It was, as is increasingly the case, something of a giggle.  Not intentionally, I might add…it’s just that I can’t help myself and once I start giggling, it really is difficult to stop. Once, it was necessary to be armed with a sheaf of tissues because 4-year-olds herded into performing Christmas plays are so unbearably cute it makes you weep. Now I need them to dab the tears of laughter from my eyes. Don’t look at me like that, there were plenty of shoulders shaking in that hall, I’ll have you know.

DD plays the violin, very much as a beginner but entirely competently, so I wasn’t laughing at her. It wasn’t even the four instances of Jingle Bells and three of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer on the programme that did it. No, it was the performers, I’m afraid. I mean, how can you keep a straight face when confronted with the look of bemused horror in a small boy’s widening eyes as totally unexpected noises emanate from his trumpet. And what to do when the relieved clapping at the end of the bizarrely tuneless self-penned song, accompanied by an entirely unconnected guitar strum, is thwarted by the revelation that the small girl perpetrating both had not finished, but had merely mistakenly flicked her plectrum away. Such situations are not helped by one’s DH expressing a view along the lines that that particular turn “began with no note known to man” and went rapidly downhill from there…and so did my giggles. There were many such incidents, many united the whole audience, like the guitar soloist who began well with the notes “Jin-gle Bells, Jin-gle Bells, Jin……?” whereupon we waited with bated breath and an…ti…ci…pa……..shun, willing her to find the “-gle” and then the “all” and so on. The collective relief when it was all finally over was tangible.

I do make sure that I sit at the back of the hall ever since the “Oh God” incident. Did I not mention that before? Well, it was during DD’s end of year class assembly, last year, I think. I will miss those class assemblies when she goes up to big school in September. These are where the class very entertainingly act out what they have learnt that year for the benefit of the parents. They tend to be fun and intentionally humorous, albeit not the bit that sent me into uncontrollable spasms of  hilarity on this particular occasion.  There’s just something about a 9 year old intoning the words “Oh God” and sounding like Derek Nimmo trotting out a Sunday service to his dozing flock that just cracks me up…and I did. I had a serious fit of the giggles and just couldn’t stop. My eyes were streaming and my shoulders shaking as I desperately tried not to roar out loud. I suspect that everyone else thought I was quite mad and ever since, I have been peculiarly susceptible to giggling fits.

Don’t get me wrong, I applaud enthusiastically at the end of all the performances, not always in relief, rather in recognition of the sheer bravery at getting up there to do their thing and acknowledgement that it was almost certainly waaaay better than I could ever have done. Their little faces all shone with pride and pleasure to be part of it all and that was lovely to see. I’m even a little sad that this will be the last Christmas concert 🙂