SPANISH ANECDOTE

This anecdote I am about to share is entitled "Shepherd Confusion" and just goes to show that things are done a little differently here in Spain and I should never assume anything.

A week before Christmas vacation started at Charlie´s school, the teacher sent home a note saying that the children should dress up as a shephard for the Christmas Program. Since it was for the Christmas program I assumed this meant dressing Charlie up like a shepherd from the time of Jesus. Therefore, I thought that like me, all the moms would go through their children´s closet and linen closet and dress them up in a bath robe with a towel draped on their head and shoulders. The morning of the program I sent Charlie to school with his blue bath robe and a piece of cloth on his head. It wasn´t the best costume but I didn´t think it was the worst either.

I figured that there were going to be so many shephards, Charlie would just blend in with the other "homemade" customs. However, I guess I missed a memo or something because that is not how they do things here is Spain. My idea of a shepherd and the Spanish idea of a shepherd is completly diffierent. I guess they like the more modern shepherds because when the children started coming into the auditorium I realized that all the kid´s mom had purchased the same shepherds costume and Charlie was the only one dressed up in a bath robe. I think it was the "just had a baby" hormones but I started crying because I felt so bad that Charlie was different than the others. I felt horrible and like I had failed my son. But in the end it turned out alright I guess because Charlie never asked why he looked different than the rest and now every time we read a picture book about the birth of Jesus he points to the shepherds and says that he dressed up as one. I doubt he would say the same had he been one of those more modern shepherds.

If you can´t tell, Charlie is the one in the middle in blue.
Charlie did a great job performing the song "Ding Dong".