GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL -- Educationally Speaking

If you would like to give a holiday gift that costs you nothing but is

invaluable to the receiver, give a pint of blood between 8 a.m. and 2

p.m. Wednesday at Costa Mesa High School. You can talk to some nice

teenagers while you’re there.

A speaker at last week’s school board meeting talked about his

favorite Christmas gift, received more than 50 years ago from his

fourth-grade teacher. It was during the Depression, and she handmade each

student a card. I suspect that the reason it is his favorite gift is not

just because it was a lovely card. The card represents all of the

wonderful feelings his teacher endeared in him to this day.

It got me thinking about my favorite holiday gift. At the time, my

daughter was in the fifth grade and was working on an assignment. As most

parents would agree, it is difficult to get fifth-graders to work on

long-term projects a little at a time. So I spent many an evening

hounding my daughter to work on some part of it to get it done on time.

This teacher assigned a winter inquiry, with a choice of 25 projects.

Many were to research and write about the ways that people celebrate the

winter holidays. It helped the kids learn how alike -- and different --

their holiday celebrations are, and to appreciate and respect those

similarities and differences.

The projects I like most are the ones that are more personal in

nature.

In this project, my daughter listed three of her wishes, including her

wish to be reincarnated many times -- once as a star to shine down on

Earth. Now, how often do you find out stuff like that from your child?

She also included her favorite holiday smell and why, and a favorite

recipe, which she made and brought in to share with the class.

One of my favorites is her story of “The Almost Perfect Christmas

Tree,” which recounts our family’s annual struggle to write our Christmas

letter and to pick out and decorate the perfect tree. That year, our tree

fell down after we got it all decorated, so we had to start all over

again. At the time, it didn’t seem as funny as it does now.

She also wrote about our family holiday traditions, which now may be

passed down to future generations. The details of that year, which is now

five years away, would have faded if I did not have the winter inquiry.

It helps me picture just how our family was at that point in time, and

that is the best gift of all.

So, teachers, if you are looking for a project for your students to

make for their parents, no matter what their age, I suggest that they

just sit down and write about the holidays from their own perspective.

I’m sure other moms and dads would find it to be their most treasured

gift as well.

My favorite gift this year was seeing the kids perform at a holiday

program. This year, I watched about 200 kids sing all types of songs with

a professional 15-piece string orchestra.

The students were on pins and needles before the performance and on

cloud nine after it was done.

The top choir group at the school has been giving singing gigs almost

every day and night this month to raise enough money for the professional

musicians. They gave their fellow singers a real gift, as it is not every

day that one sings with a live orchestra.

* GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL is a Costa Mesa resident. Her column is

published Tuesdays. She may be reached by e-mail at o7 ggsesq@aol.com

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