Sing out to spread Christmas cheer

Weeks before our trip to the US, some of the moms from my son's school asked me to join the parent choir.  They were going to sing "When You Wish Upon a Star" and wanted my help to make sure their pronunciation was on key.

Since I was free on the day of their practice, I was happy to join.  Although I can often be found singing and humming, I am not a talented singer.  I simply have fun with it.  I forewarned the mom that invited me to the choir that I was not exactly in-tune all the time.  She didn't mind at all.  She assured me it wasn't a professional choir and they were all just in it for fun.

When I attended the first practice I learned we would also be singing "Winter Wonderland" in Japanese.  I was up for the challenge.

Over the next couple months, we practiced and learned the songs.  It was fun having our weekly gatherings and comradery.

Today, Christmas day, was the big performance.  We lined up in front of all the students in the school and sang out loud.  The kids were super attentive and showed appreciation with very courteous applause.  The kids were on super good behavior because we were part of the big assembly that ended with Santa appearing and giving all the students a small gift (the older students received a card game, while the younger students received a board game).

I was not completely surprised by the agenda of the day, including the teachers creating "sled" marks in the schoolyard and tossing quite a bit of ice around.  The school did the same thing last year.  But what did intrigue me was that schools in the US would never attempt this.  It is just too "religious".

As the choir was finalizing the last details before the performance some of the choir thought it would be fun if all the parents that spoke another language could say "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" to the kids.  This sounded like an easy request to fulfil.  But then someone from the school mentioned that the choir would not be able to say "Merry Christmas" in Japanese (which is just "Merry Christmas" with a thick accent) as it was "too religious."  I couldn't believe my ears!  Where exactly was this line between what was okay and what pushed things too far?  Why could we say it in English, Korean, French, and Chinese, but not Japanese?  I may never know.  But before today, I didn't know there even was such a thing as "too religious" in Japan.  Learn something new everyday.

Oh, and the final review of our performance?  My son reported we could "use one more practice!"  It made me laugh.  Such a critic!