Best Little Library Ever!

Last week we went to the library to renew our Christmas library books that we hadn't finished reading, and as usual, there were little flyers on the counter for upcoming events. One of them caught Merrilee's eye...'The "Twas the Night Before Christmas" event. The flyer said something about wearing pajamas, bringing a toy, and listening to stories, poems, songs, and even a puppet play. So we grabbed the flyer, stuffed it in the bag with our books, and went home. Needless to say, I forgot about the whole thing somewhere between passing the IGA and turning left next to the county jail.


But this Sunday, on the way to church, Merrilee asked me "Is there something we're going to do on Tuesday?" All I could think of was Crafternoon, and that's what I answered. But she pressed on and said "But wasn't there supposed to be some other thing going on at the library where we can wear our pajamas?" That jogged my memory, and I felt my shoulders grow heavy with one more thing the kids wanted to do and I didn't feel like cramming into my schedule. So I told her to get the flyer out of the bag when we got home and put it on the counter so I could look at it. I was hoping she'd forget all about it by the time we got home from church.


Well, she didn't forget. She found the flyer. And she mentioned it again on Monday. And she mentioned it again this morning. And this afternoon. Twice. She was really looking forward to it. So I managed to throw together a quick quiche for an early dinner, get everyone into pj's, and got us out the door by 6:30 for the 6:45 pm event.


As I've mentioned before, our little library is just a hole in the wall. There's a kids' section, which is about half the library, and an adult section, which consists of about four rows of shelves, and a few walls of young adult books and videos. Then there's another large, empty room for activities or meetings.


So we got to the library and I could see it wasn't just a little event. I think half the town's kids under the age of six were there. The place was packed. I was blessed to find a parking space when someone was leaving. I have a feeling it was an adult who was trying to use the library in peace, but saw the herd of kids arriving and wanted to high-tail it out of there! The kids all sat on the floor and the adults were given chairs around the perimeter of the room. I got a seat in the second row from the back. Katie Mei didn't want to sit on the floor with Merrilee and Jacob; she's not much for crowds of strangers and preferred to sit on my lap as she assessed the situation.

The theme of the night's stories was Christmas Mice. Each story had something to do with a mouse, and there are little wind up toy mice all over the library this week.


Towards the middle of the program, as some families were leaving (it was only a 45 minutes program! Who would take their kids home that early?!) we got to move up to the front row. Katie Mei loved the puppet show with a talking Christmas tree, Santa, and some talking mice. She kept pointing to the puppets and telling me "Mouse talk!", "Santa talk!" She has never seen puppets in action without seeing the actual person holding the puppet, so I think she didn't realize they were puppets. I think she thought the stuffed animals really were talking. She was riveted! Once the puppet show was over, she spent the rest of the program asking me "Santa Go?" She demanded to see the Santa puppet one more time before we left. I took her up to the stage and a kid behind the stage had Santa on his hand and made it talk to her. She reached up to touch it, and when it spoke, she was startled and grabbed her hand back immediately. It was so funny. I wish I had a video of it.

After the puppet show and a few stories, Ms. Gloria, the children's librarian, did her own little skit of The Gingerbread Mouse. Ms. Gloria loves kids and acts like one herself. She made her own costume, even down to to huge peppermint candy buttons.

The kids absolutely loved the evening out. There were all over Miss Gloria telling her thank you. I had them stand next to her for a photo so I can print one out later and give it to her to with a thank you card. All the way home Merrilee and Jacob kept saying "That was SOOO much fun!" and "Mom, Thanks for taking us!"

I'm glad we went. It was a pain for an old stick-in-the-mud like me to get myself in gear, make an early dinner, and go out on a rainy night with my kids in pajamas. (And yes, germs creep me out, so I made them all throw their pj's in the laundry and put on fresh ones for bed.) But my children had such a great time that it was worth it just to make their day. I was such a hero, and it was a whole lot cheaper than taking them to a movie!

Thanks, Leesburg Library and Ms. Gloria! We love you!