the children's Christmas concert

Last week I attended the children's Christmas concert that put on by the elementary school annually. Normally people would probably think it's a little strange for me to be attending an event for elementary school students, especially since I don't have any kids, but the children's Christmas concert is actually one of the biggest, most favourite holiday events in town.  Cambridge Bay does love their children after all, and who can blame them when they're so cute you could eat them right up pinch their adorable cheeks.

It was an important event for Cambridge Bay.  Doors opened a half hour before the performances were to start, and the gym was completely packed from wall to wall, with every seat filled, every spot on the wall leaned on, and even the floor completely covered. I stupidly arrived ten minutes late and had to squeeze myself a spot on the floor.

Meanwhile, the kids were looking their best.  The girls were wearing their prettiest dresses and the boys were wearing dress shirts and ties. They could have easily been going to junior prom (if you went to junior prom as a seven-year-old). 

The concert was led by a wisecracking emcee who effortlessly switched back and forth between English and Inuinnaqtun, and never let an opportunity for a joke pass by.

I was impressed by all the efforts that had gone into putting on the show.  Each class had an Inuinnaqtun portion, with the kids singing songs like O Come All Ye Faithful and Silent Night in Inuinnaqtun. The grade one students also did the world's most adorable jigging demonstration, and I swear, there is nothing cute than watching small children dancing with their partners with furious feet.

 

This spells something

Some of the older kids also danced some jigs. 

Other performances included a Cambridge Bay re-writing of Jingle Bell Rock, Christmas poems, a play about Christmas elves breaking into a toy store, the most charismatic Frosty the Snowman this town as ever seen, and the Arctic version of 12 Days of Christmas,  all while the smaller kids in the audience excitedly calling out greetings at their older siblings on stage and enticing them to break the fourth wall.

A Christmas play

Frosty the Snowman

Students talk about why a horse-drawn sleigh would be impractical in Cambridge Bay

Rewriting Jingle Bell Rock

3 arctic hares

2 shiny ulus 

and a pair of sealskin mitts for free

-The 12 days of Christmas in Cambridge Bay

As you can see it was a fun evening for the whole community and a chance for everyone to be proud of the Cambridge Bay youth. And a great way to start the Christmas season.