This morning as I was working in my office, I heard my husband�s footsteps on the stairs. I turned around to find that he had a goatee. I burst into a fit of reflexive giggling, whereupon he remarked, �I guess I�ll go shave it off then� and retreated upstairs. I guess I could haved been a little more sensitive. He actually looked pretty cute. Just a lot geekier than I�ve been accustomed to.

I�ve never been a big fan of facial hair. Mostly, I think my rationale in that area is purely selfish. I have very sensitive skin and smooching someone with a hirsute chin tends to lend my face a certain hamburger-like texture afterwards. But I understand the impulse to cultivate and manipulate one�s facial hair. I�m sure if I had some, I�d be trying out all kinds of whacky patterns. But given my skill with a razor (as evidenced by several mammoth scars on my legs), I thank my stars nearly daily that I do not need to place sharp objects anywhere near my face on a regular basis.

At 10:30, clean-shaven and dressed in our parental best, we grabbed the camera and drove to AJ�s school to see what the 3-year-olds had to perform for us.

Parental rule #1: If your kid is performing and if you own a video camera, it might be a good idea to bring it with you. I stupidly brought the digital camera, as I love the instant gratification of it. What I failed to capture is 18 kids singing �We wish you a Merry Christmas� at the top of their lungs with hand gestures that appeared to have been intended as a �rollicking good time� type of motion with a closed fist and a crooked elbow but instead looked like a Keystone Kops slugfest. I also did not record �One little, two little three little reindeer� (sung to the tune of �One little, two little, three little Indians, now outlawed in schools across the land due to its lack of racial sensitivity but a preschool staple in my day) where at least half the class skipped from three to seven, confusing everyone and leading to a seemingly endless stream of random numbers that had to be stopped by the teachers without a convincing final cadence. I also did not get a recording of the amazing dynamic range of the 3-year-olds as they sang �Jingle Bells� in the quietest possible voices until the word �Hey!� which should properly have blown the roof right off the building.

I did, however, get pretty great still photos of all of the above. Most of the best ones are of the group, and I don�t post pictures of other people�s kids on the web, but here is one of AJ standing by his class Christmas tree:

He is happy to be on vacation now. He is spending a lot of time poking the boxes under the Christmas tree with his toes in hopes that he can discern what is inside. He is also spending a lot of time looking out the window to see if it is snowing yet. Mostly, though, he is going about his business while humming Christmas carols almost non-stop.

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