Recently in Children Category

Every year at this time, just a few short weeks before summer break, our elementary school's PTO hosts the Pompo/Center School Picnic. It's always a wonderful event and, for the kids, it's pretty much the social event of the year. Practically everyone shows up. There's plenty to eat, lots of field games, and fire and police activities. The most popular event, of course, is the dunking booth, where the kids get back at their favorite, or not so favorite, teachers. The parents sit around and commiserate about all the time they'll have with their kids in a short while, wondering how they will fill the long summer days.

Stow has the wonderful tradition of celebrating Memorial Day with a parade and ceremony. The parade begins at Center School and winds its way down to Brookside Cemetery. Every year, the names of all of Stow's fallen veterans are read as well as a reading of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, laying of the wreaths, playing of Taps, and volley by the Stow Minutemen. But perhaps most moving is when the first graders lay marigolds they have grown at the graves of veterans. After the ceremony at the cemetery, we all march to the Randall Library for the National Moment of Silence at 3PM and an address by our State Representative, Kate Hogan. It's gratifying to see so many come out to honor our veterans; brave men and women who fought to defend our liberty.

Spring soccer has arrived, along with seasonable weather, and parents all over are rejoicing. Stow's program starts with munchkins (as young as 4.5 year olds) and goes up to U16 and U18 and the highly competitive Nashoba United teams. Soccer was never my favorite personal sport to play or to watch. But I do think soccer is a great sport to get involved for an initial foray into sports. There's a lot less to learn than, say, baseball. Stow has made great strides in its younger leagues over the past few years by involving the Play Soccer program. The program is quite popular in New England and they send us real UK coaches to help the kids learn skills. I'm still not quite sure if they are authentically British, they could just have really good accent training. Maybe I'll place a pint of Samuel Smith's near a goal and see if they go for it. Image: Players get ready for a kick-in during the today's first U7 game at the Pompositticut School fields.

For elementary school children, one of the major social events of the year is the Stow Arts Buffet Festival. Held at Center School and sponsored by the Stow PTO, upwards of 200 kids engaged in numerous arts and crafts projects in the school's gymnasium. T-shirt decorating and clay modeling were probably the favorites. The time capsule will be the most enduring. Kids answered some questions about themselves and put the paper inside a plastic tennis ball can which is only to be opened upon graduation from high school! The recycled art section challenged kids to be creative and many unique pieces of art were made. In addition to the art, music teacher Judy Dyer coordinated a musical talent show with acts student acts including guitar, flute, trumpet, saxophone, piano and violin performances. On stage was the Art Show, displaying kids' framed art.

To view a larger set of images, visit: Arts Buffet Slideshow.

Art teacher Marion Rayner loves art and her enthusiasm is a gift to the children she teaches. Tomorrow there will be hundreds of framed art pieces at Center School in Stow for the annual Arts Buffet. This year, the school is trying to raise funds to replace the broken kiln. Framed art can be purchased for $29.95 plus tax, with 20% of the sales going directly to the "Kiln Fund." If you would prefer to donate directly to the fund, you can make out a check to "Stow PTO" and write "Kiln Fund" in the memo line.

The real Santa Claus came to Bolton, Massachusetts today!

We all know that Santa hires "Mall Santas" to go around and represent him during this busy season. But that didn't happen today in Bolton. Yes, I was granted an early wish as the real Santa decided to make a surprise visit to Bruce Slater's Great Brook Farms. And there were none of those pesky photographers to get in the way of my own camera and Santa. Bruce's wonderful store was filled with happy children and adults. There were cookies and candy canes and hot cider and a fireplace. What a wonderful treat!

If you have never been to Bruce's store, you should pay a visit. We had met Maria, the new chef, last year and tasted her wonderful german cooking. So we had to try her pulled pork BBQ. We got a pound to go and it was fantastic. Many of you who live around here are probably familiar with Firefly's BBQ in Marlborough. I almost always get their pulled pork platter and had thought it was great. But the pulled pork from Bruce's was quite a bit better. I could taste the smokey flavor of the pork and the sauce was less sweeter and more spicier than Firefly's. It also wasn't swimming in sauce. It looks like we are about to have a new weekly takeout habit.

So back to Santa. Was he really the genuine article? I am well aware that many decry the Santa tradition as detracting from the religious aspects of the season. Perhaps they feel that Santa is part of the "commercialization" problem of Christmas. Still others feel that Santa is a great big lie and that we harm our children by letting them believe in the lie.

There's a word that describes these people: humbugs! What's wonderful about being a child is that you still have your imagination! As we grow older, this is one of the first things we lose, right along with our childhood innocence. But is what we imagine not real? Do children end up traumatized because their parents perpetuated a grand lie for so many years? Silly! Dr. John Condry of Cornell University interviewed more than 500 children who learned "the truth" and there was not one child who was angry at his or her parents. The most common response was that children felt more mature. My own experiences attest to this finding. We have a Christmas Eve tradition of over half a century of dressing up as Santa for the family and handing out and opening presents. Two years ago my oldest daughter knew it was me and helped me dress that evening. She felt so completely special. She had "grown up". If anyone should be traumatized it should have been me the parent. But even that I cannot complain about because it makes me proud to see my children reach new stages in life.

I haven't yet reached the point where my children don't believe in "The Real Santa". And, truthfully, I hope I never do. What's special about Christmas and Santa is that they are within us. In our adult hearts, I believe we mourn that we lost our gift of imagination and our ability to believe in things beyond ourselves. This is the lie. For it is a fact that there is much that exists beyond us. Yes, it kills me to not be able to tell my daughter that the new microscope came from me. But it also makes me happy at the same time. What keeps this tradition going is that as adults we desperately want to believe!

Christmas doesn't have to be about over-commercialization. Years ago I would have a tradition of frantically shopping one or two days before Christmas and would wrack my brain trying to figure out what to buy for everyone on my list. As I got older, things changed. The spirit of giving is with me quite a bit. And now I regularly see or think of things that would make my loved ones smile. They don't need to be expensive gifts or require trips to a crowded Walmart on Black Friday. This is one of the wonderful advantages of the Internet. You can shop from the comfort of your own home. You can save money and repurpose items from Ebay. Or you can even make your own gifts. The spirit of giving is really what Christmas is about for me. It's a spirit that should be with us all year long. Christmas gives us an opportunity to renew that spirit.

So, Christmas morning I will come downstairs with the kids and my wife (and my mother-in-law) at 6am. They will open presents. I will show them the half-eaten cookies on the kitchen table and the carrots on the back deck.

And I will smile.

While I am a Dad now, I still believe. For what I didn't tell you was that Santa today pulled me aside and told me to take the letters my children brought for him and put them in their stockings on Christmas morning. I know this Santa cannot go to every house in the world. He needs parents like me to help him do his work. So, why do I believe? I kept looking over at Santa today. He was so kind. He had such a mellow voice. He had a real and old beard! He smiled! He seemed so genuinely happy to be around all the children. He greeted each child in such a special way.

And I kept looking and sneaking a peek.

As we were preparing to leave, I looked once more and Santa gave me a wink!

He knew I believed.

Related Post:

• Santa Makes a Surprise Visit to Stow! (12/07)

External Link: Great Brook Farms

If you've ever been to a Stow SpringFest, you know it usually rains (or snows)! This year we got lucky. It was a very special year for us because our town celebrated its Tercenquarternary. What's that word you say? Well the word was "invented" for this occasion and simply means we celebrated our 325th anniversary. We had a huge parade this year. We had the Stow and Sudbury Minutemen, bagpipers, tractors, trucks, antique cars and fire trucks, a replica of the Stow West School (the 1-room schoolhouse still standing on Harvard Road), and a hayride. We even had ourselves a clown on a bike! The girl scouts carried the flags belonging to Stow over the years and the parade was closed by the famed Belgian horses of Rockbottom Farm.

The parade ended at Center School where the real festivities began. There were huge cakes to celebrate the Stow Community Chest's 25th anniversary, students playing instruments at the Stow Friends of Music booth, encampments of minutemen, animals, an old-fashioned broom maker, a blacksmith, spinning and weaving demonstrations, firemen playing "water polo", 20 information booths, and activities galore.

The afternoon gave us a wonderful children's play at the Old Town Hall. "The Time Trap" was a unique lesson in Stow history from a kids' point of view. The play was inspired by books by Stow's Martha Perkins and chronicled the lives of modern day Stow kids who got caught in a parallel existence with 18th, 19th and 20th century Stow kids. The portal in time was an old outhouse.

For more images, visit: Paul's Apple Country Gallery no. 21 or see a select few in the "Images" related post. Proceeds from print sales will go to support the Stow Community Chest.

Related Post:

• Images: Stow Springfest (5/2008)

For more images, please visit: Paul's Apple Country Living Gallery no. 21. Proceeds from print sales will go to support the Stow Community Chest.

There is nothing that signals spring more than baseball's opening day, whether it's at the professional or tee ball levels. The Assabet Valley Little League serves the towns of Maynard and Stow and draws approximately 600 players on 52 teams. A far off dream for many of these kids is to play Tee Ball at the White House. President Bush, who as you probably know is the first President to have played Little League, has been hosting annual Tee Ball games on the South Lawn of the White House. This year, there will be a Tee Ball "All Star" game with one player selected from each state. A more realistic dream is to just be part of a local All Star team in the regular baseball and softball local and regional tournaments where they can hope, with skill and a little luck, to get to Williamsport, PA. Image: Manager Jeff LaPlante and his Minor League "Reds" team prepare for the first Opening Day exhibition game this past Sunday on DJ's Field in Maynard, MA.