Keith at Santa's Workshop -- 21Dec2011

The lady who we may charitably refer to as "in charge" of the booking for Santa's Workshop was never actually clear on who was booked when, even when prodded directly, so I just gave up and went down there to see. There was, indeed, a Girl Scout troop, with three expected participants, (Really?!? Three unamplified Girl Scouts?!?) so the lady in charge (who knew me from the Holly Trolley incident) had them sing for the Cookie Decorating booth people, while I played for the line.

And I'm very glad I did I took the chance. Since it was the last night, there was a huge line, and we started early and ended an hour and a half late. I had *lots* of kids come down to listen, dance, sing along, and shout "Like a lightbulb!" during "Rudolph". And several parents, too.

Unfortunately, without the sanctity of the "not allowed on stage", the kids tend to come around until they're standing right next to me, "helping" me find the next song in the book, pointing at the words as we go along, stepping unexpectedly on the harmony box pedals, hugging my legs, etc. One kid decided to see how much sand he could kick up onto the pedal board, and another wanted to see what would happen if he dangled a dry leaf into the coils of the heater. I had to ask them, "Really? You want to be 'bad' with Santa Claus sitting *right over there*?!?", to much chuckling from the parents in line.

But mostly the kids were great. Lots of participation -- little girls doing preset hand motions to some of the songs, or just making up a dance on the spot. Lots of dancing, with the accompanying parents with smartphone video recorders. One little girl whose go-to dance move was shaking her hips back and forth, while her stiff car-coat looked like a ringing bell, clanging against her clapper-knees.

The stealth tip jar worked well again ($41), but after a while the presence of all the money made it confusing for the kids trying to get to the candy at the bottom of the box. And it turned out that the cranky guy who objects to my having an actual tip jar was being Santa (he's presumably not so cranky with the kids...), so I coulda been more overt.

But anyway, it was the most fun I've had playing for a long time. I love playing for kids!