Spreadsheets and Christmas Concerts

Lately our dinner table conversation has included merry rounds of Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, in preparation of our son’s preschool’s Christmas concert, which is tonight. He can now recite these verses by memory and in tune, which I think is a great feat for a 5 year old. But outside of mastering the Christmas carols and shopping for the right festive outfit for his on stage appearance, there’s something else that I’ve found myself getting sucked into: Volunteer Duty. I love to volunteer for things, and my parents both instilled the civic spirit in me as a young child, as they always volunteered in their community and at my school. As an adult I have volunteered as a dog walker at the NY ASPCA, I’ve been a soccer referee, I’ve visited nursing homes, and my favorite was my stint as a Tour Guide at the Central Park Zoo in NYC (every other Sunday, and yes, I did for FREE. What can I say, I like animals). So in the spirit of this giving holiday season, I elected to help with the Christmas concert. It’s been a no-brainer, but apparently not for the mother organizing the volunteers, as evidenced by the numerous amounts of emails. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Mayberry Mom’s post about the shrimp lady for her neighborhood party when Dave and I ended up receiving 6 separate emails pertaining to volunteering at this concert. I’ve copied and pasted the last that we received this morning:

Just to reitterate what I may already have spoken to you about, it can either be yourself or your husband helping the teachers out with your assigned room (see attached spreadsheet) with the following:

* Sit with the kids in the pews until it is their class's turn.

* Assist the teachers in herding the kids to the stage where they will sing their song.

* Sit with the kids onstage to keep them still and quiet while the other classes get their turn.

* At the end, assist in orderly exit from the stage as parent comes to pick up their child.


And yes there is an excel spreadsheet attached outlining which mom or dads are herding which kids from which classroom. My son is in preschool. Do I dare to think about the organizational load of a Kindergarten Christmas concert? And I can’t help but wonder about how much free time this woman has. Or is she just a spreadsheet guru that goes around preparing analysis for everything from laundry to grocery shopping. I can appreciate the organization behind the effort, but really, is this necessary?