Ruby loves to sing. Of course, there is a lot of singing in our house anyway, as I am often learning (or supposed to be learning) new music. But Ruby really loves to sing, and I have never seen her as excited about any music as much as Christmas music.
I suppose it started last year, when she started picking up on holiday music that was being played around the house. Of course she was only two, and didn’t quite understand what she was singing about. This was never more apparent than when she changed “Holly Jolly Christmas” into a pirate chantey by repeatedly singing the words “Yo Ho, it’s Mister Toe, hung where we can see!” A gruesome image to be sure.
This year, she started the season with a delightful mash-up that she continues to sing to this very day. It is to the tune of Jingle Bells, but it goes like this: “Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the farm! Old McDonald had a farm, with a one two three and hey now!” She repeats that over and over again until finally someone in the room jumps out of a window.
Then she spent some time with my mother while I was in New York auditioning. While she was there, she learned all of “Away in a Manger,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” and a song I had never heard called “Does the Baby Need a Blanket to Keep Him Warm?” She learned hand motions and everything! Ok, so she thought the second verse of “Away in a Manger” started out with “The candles are blowing,” but I was impressed that she even knew the second verse! Certified genius, I thought to myself.
What I didn’t know, was that this was all leading to Ruby’s first public performance. My mother told me that Ruby had learned these songs at her church, and the kids were all performing them this past weekend, and wouldn’t we like to bring Ruby there so she could sing with the other kids. I asked Ruby if she was interested in doing this, and she said yes, so we all trekked out to the ferry Sunday morning to visit my mother’s church. At first I was worried that Ruby had not had as much rehearsal as the other children, but believe me, that was not an issue. Ruby was the star of the show. And by “star of the show” I mean “the loudest one.”
When Simone and I sat down in the front row, cameras at the ready, the first thing we noticed was Ruby’s name in the bulletin. This was the first time that Ruby’s name had ever been printed somewhere on her own merit, so naturally we took a picture of it, and then saved multiple copies of the program to be later embalmed, framed, and/or donated to a museum in the future. The kids all came down the aisle, and we were so excited! Way more excited than the children seemed to be, but that was okay, right?
They started off with the blanket song, and Ruby knew every word and every motion. She seemed to blend very well with the other children. Then she got more comfortable, and by the time they ended with “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” she was singing boisterously above the others, waving, smiling, and clapping as hard as she could. We received many compliments on our way out, so it’s nice that people really understood her artistic vision and weren’t intimidated by her bold interpretation. And after we left, Ruby decided she wanted to learn all of the words to “The 12 Days of Christmas.” Yay!