Singing to the parents

Danette Goulet

Students were decked out in their finest clothes. Girls wore velvet

dresses with big red bows in their hair. Boys wore festive sweaters and

crisply pressed shirts.

And parents spilled out of doorways and stretched up on tiptoes

Wednesday morning, each straining to catch a glimpse of their child

performing in the holiday program at Paularino Elementary School in Costa

Mesa.

The students stood, solemn, serious and dignified, while their parents

hopped up and down, waving frantically to get their children’s attention.

Each grade level, beginning with the third-grade classes, performed a

trio of holiday songs.

Along with the songs, children learned motions that had some of them

wrinkling their brows in concentration.

Musical numbers ranged from “Yuki,” a Japanese Winter Festival song,

to “O Hanukkah” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

“The best part was that we got to sing to our parents,” said Kyle

Picco, 6.

In keeping with a Paularino tradition that goes back to 1976, Tom

Barr’s third-grade class performed a song he had taught them to play on

the bells. This years tune was, aptly, “Silver Bells.”