S04.E07: Winter Show

[chitowngirl]

Despite a few setbacks, Barbara is determined to make Abbott Elementary's first-ever holiday show a success; Jacob's brother arrives for his visit earlier than planned.
 

Airs December 4, 2024

[DanaK]

Note that this will be at the special time of 8pm ET

[chitowngirl]

I don’t know of any public school that puts on a Christmas show for exactly the reason of students being excluded. They are always holiday or winter shows.

[Galileo908]

Christmas in Hollis is great, but is it steppable?

We finally meet Jacob's brother! And of course he's the himbo likeable golden child of the family. I felt for Jacob. Caleb was nice enough, but I get feeling like you'd be more yourself the more you're away from your family. I knew the story he told on the podcast was out of context.

Whoa, we got O'shon AND Tariq in one episode?! "Trying to yeet Christmas" had me dying.

"Oh, so you're kind and stuff?" Ava is down BAD for O'Shon.

I finally get what everyone is saying about Barbara. In the spirit of inclusiveness, Barbara slowly takes over her class's performance to the point of literally singing her name. But I loved that they just ended up using the kid's song. It was delightfully chaotic.

Loved seeing Keith David right at the end. And he's AVA'S DAD?! Way to drop THAT bombshell at the last minute.

[txhorns79]

41 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

I don’t know of any public school that puts on a Christmas show for exactly the reason of students being excluded. They are always holiday or winter shows.

This really bothered me.  Perhaps it's because I don't celebrate Christmas, but you'll have to forgive me for not buying for even half a minute that a public school in a major urban area has only suddenly discovered in the year of our lord, 2024, that having a Christmas show excludes students who don't celebrate Christmas. 

I also didn't really think that Caleb would just be allowed to stand at the back of the class and observe Jacob as he taught.  It's a distraction for the class, and honestly, unless you are supposed to be observing a teacher as part of the oversight process, the whole thing would get boring really quickly. 

Also, not surprised at all that Jacob applied to Morehouse.      

Edited December 5 by txhorns79

[Galileo908]

Just now, txhorns79 said:

I also didn't really but that Caleb would just be allowed to stand at the back of the class and observe Jacob as he taught.  It's a distraction for the class, and honestly, unless you are supposed to be observing a teacher as part of the oversight process, the whole thing would get boring really quickly. 

Essentially blame Ava. She said it herself, she just gave Caleb a visitor's badge just to see what would happen.

[PupCal]

So was this Winter concert just the kindergartners and the step team?

Also I feel so bad for Jacob.

[Galileo908]

26 minutes ago, PupCal said:

So was this Winter concert just the kindergartners and the step team?

I believe what we saw was just the Kindergarten's act. Barbara mentioned that they were the headliners.

[anna0852]

Would a kindergarten have to be wearing a head scarf at that age? I thought that was something most girls weren’t expected to adopt until they hit puberty.

Edited December 5 by anna0852

[ItCouldBeWorse]

20 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

This really bothered me.  Perhaps it's because I don't celebrate Christmas, but you'll have to forgive me for not buying for even half a minute that a public school in a major urban area has only suddenly discovered in the year of our lord, 2024, that having a Christmas show excludes students who don't celebrate Christmas. 

Clever!

Edited December 5 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Annber03]

2 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I don’t know of any public school that puts on a Christmas show for exactly the reason of students being excluded. They are always holiday or winter shows.

I thought the same thing. But I did like that they were able to work it all out at the end 

Also, I related so much to Janine with the kids being all, "Who's Run D.M.C?" :p. That opening bit with her and Ava and Jacob all rapping the song was great. 

59 minutes ago, PupCal said:

Also I feel so bad for Jacob.

So did I :(. The way he alluded to how his relationship with his parents added to his struggle, and his whole thing about not feeling like the cool, tough guy that Caleb thought he was...I just wanted to give him a hug, the poor guy. 

I can also see why he got so overwhelmed by Caleb, because yeah, he's friendly, but I can easily see where he can also be a lot. For a time there I thought we'd learn that he came to visit because he fell out of favor with their parents as well and was no longer the "golden child". I do love how he exprsesed his admiration and respect for Jacob, though, and I am glad they were able to work things out in the end. I also liked Gregory reaching out to Jacob and helping him as he did and letting him vent. I like when we get to see the friendship between those two. 

(Also, top notch casting, 'cause they legit looked like they could've been related.)

The reveal about Ava's dad at the end was a great twist. And I love how they used the whole thing with Gregory's look to build up to that. 

[kathyk2]

32 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

I thought the same thing. But I did like that they were able to work it all out at the end 

Also, I related so much to Janine with the kids being all, "Who's Run D.M.C?" :p. That opening bit with her and Ava and Jacob all rapping the song was great. 

So did I :(. The way he alluded to how his relationship with his parents added to his struggle, and his whole thing about not feeling like the cool, tough guy that Caleb thought he was...I just wanted to give him a hug, the poor guy. 

I can also see why he got so overwhelmed by Caleb, because yeah, he's friendly, but I can easily see where he can also be a lot. For a time there I thought we'd learn that he came to visit because he fell out of favor with their parents as well and was no longer the "golden child". I do love how he exprsesed his admiration and respect for Jacob, though, and I am glad they were able to work things out in the end. I also liked Gregory reaching out to Jacob and helping him as he did and letting him vent. I like when we get to see the friendship between those two. 

(Also, top notch casting, 'cause they legit looked like they could've been related.)

The reveal about Ava's dad at the end was a great twist. And I love how they used the whole thing with Gregory's look to build up to that. 

I don't like rap but I know that song from Run DMC.  Barbara has been a teacher for a long time I couldn't believe that she didn't know that a concert had to include everyone. Jacob's parents must be awful I liked Caleb.

[possibilities]

My schools growing up all did Christmas and they tried to make me (Jewish) sing Carols. When I refused, I got into trouble.

I'm glad to hear that things have changed, but when I was watching the show tonight, I was bothered that they seemed to be all in for Christmas and kind of making Barbara the bad guy for deciding otherwise.

I do think that there are people who needed to see the really sweet little girl who was feeling left out, and get a clue that the exclusion and the bullying is wrong. I am pretty sure there are in fact still places that are doing things in the exclusionary way.

Plus, I think think the blue and white winter decorations are beautiful! But lose the tree-- you're not folling anybody by changing the color. We know it's a Christmas tree.

I was relieved when the audience cheered for the kids and the song they wrote and the dancing that was not perfectly executed. I was afraid it was going to be a debacle.

--

I didn't like Melissa being mean to Jacob, saying she would invite his brother but Jacob himself was on a wait list. I kept waiting to find out there was something specific he had done to get uninvited, or that she wanted him to do something specific to get invited, but they really didn't pay it off at all, she was just being cruel and he was just taking it.

Jacob can be needy, but I thought this time it was not that, and I didn't like it.

So yes, I also felt bad for him.

--

As for the brother... JACOB SAID HE HATES THE BACK CRACKERS, SO STOP IT. What is this bullshit where people think that what they mean by something overrrides how someone says that it affects them? 

 

[EtheltoTillie]

I loved the kids’ song and the step dance. 

[BAForever]

Live in the reddest of states, and we have been doing a Winter Show for years- if anyone still did Christmas only, it would be us. I still loved the episode. Happy about Jacob and his brother, Jacob is more than just the loser gay guy.  Mr. Johnson can leave.

Edited December 5 by BAForever
Wrong name used

[EtheltoTillie]

3 hours ago, BAForever said:

Live in the reddest of states, and we have been doing a Winter Show for years- if anyone still did Christmas only, it would be us. I still loved the episode. Happy about Chris and his brother, Chris is more than just the loser gay guy.  Mr. Johnson can leave.

Jacob?  Otherwise agree totally. 

Edited December 5 by EtheltoTillie

[Empress1]

13 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

I don’t know of any public school that puts on a Christmas show for exactly the reason of students being excluded. They are always holiday or winter shows.

Yeah, I was like “This never came up before?”

The cold open was hilarious. The kids’ faces were priceless. And Barbara’s students are adorable.

I also laughed at Janine’s “oh no” when Barb said she was going to write the song.

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

I didn't like Melissa being mean to Jacob, saying she would invite his brother but Jacob himself was on a wait list. I kept waiting to find out there was something specific he had done to get uninvited, or that she wanted him to do something specific to get invited, but they really didn't pay it off at all, she was just being cruel and he was just taking it.

Jacob can be needy, but I thought this time it was not that, and I didn't like it.

So yes, I also felt bad for him.

Me too. I don’t generally find meanness funny, and Melissa was just being mean for no reason. 

Fun fact: Abington is real. It’s a Philly suburb.

[BAForever]

1 hour ago, EtheltoTillie said:

Jacob?  Otherwise agree totally. 

Thanks @EtheltoTillie. I'll fix it. Was thinking of actor's name. Appreciate you.

[jah1986]

I felt Janine's pain when the kids didn't know Run DMC, that was funny. I think Janine said at the beginning that this was the first year Abbott was doing a show, that may be why no one knew to be more inclusive.

I knew Jacob got his brother's comments out of context, so glad they straightened it out.

Ava need to stop playing with O'Shon.

Do you cast Keith David for one scene? Maybe we'll see more of him later.

[Snapdragon]

Are you kidding me?  This show finally gets Keith David to guest star and it's as Ava's father instead of Barbara's brother?  Come on!  Those two have so much freakin' gravitas in their voices, it's insane to not have them play siblings.  Ugh, it's like when they cast Taraji P. Henson to play Janine's mother instead of Sherri Shepherd.  

Wasn't a fan of this episode.  As others have stated, they've been doing Holiday/Winter shows for years (even my public school in freakin' Utah in the early 90s had a holiday show, where we sang a mix of winter songs, Christmas songs and Hannukah songs), so I'm not believing that the scenario shown would even happen.  And Jacob really got on my nerves this episode.  You're the older brother, act like it!  Being rude to this brother because he's mad at his parents is just ridiculous.

[EtheltoTillie]

This show has always had an undercurrent of meanness from every character except Janine and Gregory.  They seem to be moving toward redeeming the mean characters slightly.  It's definitely a writing choice.  Sometimes it's just too unpleasant to take. 

Jacob is sort of in a middle ground.  He's also a target of meanness.  Not sure where to place him. 

Edited December 5 by EtheltoTillie

[DearEvette]

I think their handling of the Christmas thing felt rather realistic. Abbott is a pubic school in a primarily black neighborhood. It is clearly  incredibly homogeneous wrt to religion and culture.

Only about 2% of the US black population is Muslim.  And only about 1% of the US black population identifies as Jewish.  Consider this year they made a big deal about getting ONE white student.  

And Janine mentioned this was their inaugural show.  Sure it would have been nice for the teachers to initially determine they should cover all the bases, but I think the point was for them to show they listened to the concerns of the one little girl and pivoted out of care and realization that they didn't want to exclude,  rather than just showing a de facto form of blanket inclusion that could have come off as performative rather than sincere.

I LOVED the cold open with them performing Christmas in Hollis.  That song is a Christmas song staple in my house.  It cracked me up the kids did not know it.  I blame the parents!

I loved Jacob's storyline the best. First, I thought it was great casting.  They looked like they could be brothers.  I also liked how it played with perspectives.  Jacob's perspective of himself is different than his brother's.  And how their adult perspectives of their younger relationship is different.  And how important it is to talk and understand instead of just going on your own assumptions.  I will say Caleb was A LOT.  And unlike the rest of Abbott, I don't welcome that sort of Labradoodle Energy automatically.  I need to you calm down a bit.  LOL.

And yeah, I agreed with everybody. Gregory needed that haircut.

But what a nice way to set us up for meeting Ava's dad.

12 hours ago, anna0852 said:

Would a kindergarten have to be wearing a head scarf at that age?

They don't have to, but I saw little girls wearing a hijab a lot when we lived closer to the University many years ago, that had a rather sizeable Muslim community.

[Crashcourse]

I liked Slim Shady wannabe Caleb, and I hope he comes back to visit Jacob again.

Tariq is good with children, and I think he would love being a stay-at-home dad.  He just needs to marry someone who would be fine with that.  

[tennisgurl]

It does feel kind of weird that Abbot never thought about doing a more winter themed show instead of a Christmas one, or at least had more than one holiday represented, but I can see it. I have no idea what its like now, but at my old public high school we were pretty Christmas heavy, with a few token winter things thrown in. We were about 99% Christian and I don't think anyone every complained, although that was about....several years ago so not sure if its more nondenominational now.

Honestly, it was all worth it to get the kids winter song, it was adorable and unironically a bop. Even if it wasn't, parents at pageants just want to watch their kids be cute on stage, most of them aren't here for quality. Hopefully. 

I really liked meeting Jacob's brother, kudos on the casting, I totally buy them being related. Caleb seems like a sweet guy who means well, but he definitely can be a lot and I can see why he rubs Jacob the wrong way given what's been implied about their family. I'm glad that they actually got to sort things out, sometimes with family you really just need to talk. 

Keith David! The man, the myth, the legend!

[peeayebee]

17 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Also, I related so much to Janine with the kids being all, "Who's Run D.M.C?" :p. That opening bit with her and Ava and Jacob all rapping the song was great. 

As well as the rapping, I loved that in the background two or three adults walked by smiling and bopping to the rapping. I don't know when it'll cease being annoying and upsetting to me when someone's ignorance about pop culture makes me feel old.

Oh, and any show or movie with stepping in it makes me happy.

Quote

The reveal about Ava's dad at the end was a great twist. And I love how they used the whole thing with Gregory's look to build up to that.

 I kept wondering about the comments over Gregory's hair. Yes, he needed a haircut, but I said to myself, "Did TJW grow his hair out before this ep was shot, so the writers just incorporated that into a running joke?" So, yes, the ending at the barbershop with the introduction of Ava's father was great.

 

16 hours ago, possibilities said:

I do think that there are people who needed to see the really sweet little girl who was feeling left out, and get a clue that the exclusion and the bullying is wrong.

Yes, I get that it seemed weird the school hadn't been aware or had dismissed concerns about students who didn't celebrate Christmas, but I think the show was making a point that's so important these days about inclusion. We see the little girl being sad about being excluded, then happy and excited about being included, and then the mother being so kind and grateful. 

Quote

I didn't like Melissa being mean to Jacob, saying she would invite his brother but Jacob himself was on a wait list. I kept waiting to find out there was something specific he had done to get uninvited, or that she wanted him to do something specific to get invited, but they really didn't pay it off at all, she was just being cruel and he was just taking it.

I didn't like this either. I also didn't like Melissa hogging all the refrigerator space in the whole school for her OTT cooking. I wasn't amused.

I'm eager to see Ava and the IT guy get together. He's obviously really into her, and she is into him as well, though she keeps hilariously trying to hide it. I love when he pointed out that the angel on the tree bore a striking resemblance to her.

"Snowmen are scary. Hot cocoa makes me fart..."

The best elementary school shows are those that are natural and full of kid energy, not the meticulously rehearsed ones. I'm glad the audience loved it.

Janine: What are you doing here?
Tariq: I don't know. I just go where my feet take me.

BTW, I noticed something kind of weird. I don't think it was intentional. There's the scene where Jacob talks to Janine in the hall about Caleb lending her moves -- Jacob is wearing a striped sweater, and Janine is wearing a striped sweater dress. PLUS behind Janine are stairs which, because of the lighting, look like they're striped, and they match her dress so closely. 

[Blakeston]

Interesting that they cast a Latino actor as Jacob’s brother, when Jacob is pretty much defined by being completely whitebread. There was definitely a resemblance, though!

Sorry, Caleb, I know you meant well (and that you’re not exactly an intellectual), but you still should have known that it’s a bad idea to tell Jacob’s students that he went to prom by himself.

 

 

 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 12/5/2024 at 10:28 AM, jah1986 said:

I think Janine said at the beginning that this was the first year Abbott was doing a show, that may be why no one knew to be more inclusive.

That's correct.

On 12/5/2024 at 11:25 AM, DearEvette said:

Only about 2% of the US black population is Muslim.  And only about 1% of the US black population identifies as Jewish. 

I guess there are no Jehovah's Witnesses at Abbott.

 

Edited December 6 by ItCouldBeWorse

[Salacious Kitty]

1 hour ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

That's correct.

I guess there are no Seventh-Day Adventists at Abbott.

 

Or Jehovah's Witnesses. 

[PupCal]

Honestly, i can't believe none of the kids knew who Run-DMC were. That's a majority black school and nobody's parents played it? I went to majority black schools from elementary through high school and I knew who Run-DMC were (and I'm as white as Jacob lmao).

[dmmetler]

I’ve been a music teacher for 30+ years, the first 10 in a school which had ALWAYS had a Christmas concert. When I came in and insisted that we needed to do a winter show, it was like I’d shot Santa. It was miserable. I think most of the parents decided I was Jewish because they couldn’t understand why I’d object. My city has a Christmas tree lighting and a Christmas parade…despite the fact that we have a mosque and a Moslem day school. 

 I now do a fall concert before Thanksgiving and explain that “It avoid conflicts during the busy holiday season”-and the parents love it. So do I.
 

So maybe Abbott’s music teacher just chooses NOT to do a winter show? We know there was one since we saw her teaching Janine’s class recorder. 
 

 

 

[txhorns79]

1 minute ago, PupCal said:

Honestly, i can't believe none of the kids knew who Run-DMC were. That's a majority black school and nobody's parents played it?

Eh, Barbara's students are 5 and 6 years old.  I'm not shocked they haven't heard them, or perhaps they have heard their music, but did not know the name of the group.

 

9 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I think their handling of the Christmas thing felt rather realistic. Abbott is a pubic school in a primarily black neighborhood. It is clearly  incredibly homogeneous wrt to religion and culture.

It's not a matter of Abbott's student population, so much as the you'd think the teachers would have more sense, and the school district probably has a policy about these types of celebrations.  Heck, even if they didn't, I'd imagine Jacob and Janine raising the issue immediately.  It really shouldn't have taken Barbara witnessing her Muslim student being teased for that particular light to go off, so to speak. 

[kathyk2]

1 hour ago, txhorns79 said:

Eh, Barbara's students are 5 and 6 years old.  I'm not shocked they haven't heard them, or perhaps they have heard their music, but did not know the name of the group.

 

It's not a matter of Abbott's student population, so much as the you'd think the teachers would have more sense, and the school district probably has a policy about these types of celebrations.  Heck, even if they didn't, I'd imagine Jacob and Janine raising the issue immediately.  It really shouldn't have taken Barbara witnessing her Muslim student being teased for that particular light to go off, so to speak. 

Janine had a student who didn't celebrate holidays so she gave him a plain cookie. Jingle Bells doesn't mention Christmas so that should have been fine. The music teacher should have been in charge of the show.

[Featherhat]

I thought this episode was kind of meh. We saw Janine give out appropriate holiday cookies to her kids before (including a Jewish kid and a Jehovah's Witness), we've seen Muslim students before in no way is it believable that this is the first time they've realised not everyone celebrates Christmas even if this is the first show in years. I could possibly see it if they decided to revive the old Christmas Show and rebrand it as a "Winter Show" and Barb wasn't happy about that but then realised that kids felt left out and bullied. Janine, Jacob and probably Gregory would have been all over that. I get it's a sitcom and they like making points but the point they wanted to make felt like it came out of the 90s more than 2024 West Philly. 

I don't like Caleb. I found nothing funny about his character, I've known too many people like that (less OTT but the baseline) who think it's funny to steamroller over everything and that everything they do is "just me being me" and thinking it's hilarious to tell stories that potentially humiliate other people but never themselves. I'm glad Gregory was there for him. I know in show it's "because Ava" bit it is weird that so many of the teacher's relatives end up hanging out at the school interacting with the kids.

Melissa and her food, eh the pay off is next ep but has she never hosted a family gathering before? 

[peeayebee]

4 hours ago, Featherhat said:

Melissa and her food, eh the pay off is next ep but has she never hosted a family gathering before? 

I can buy that. Sounds like year after year she was vetoed, or maybe one family member always said they'd do it before she could offer. But this year she was firmer or got in there sooner and the rest of the family (or the matriarch) decided to allow it for whatever reason, take your pick -- to watch her fail, because they (or the mom) secretly realized they'd been unfair, or weren't up to it. I don't remember if it was said if the mom always prepared dinner or if other family members did it, but if it was the mom, maybe she's getting too tired to do it. 

[meep.meep]

On 12/4/2024 at 8:06 PM, Annber03 said:

 

Also, I related so much to Janine with the kids being all, "Who's Run D.M.C?" :p. That opening bit with her and Ava and Jacob all rapping the song was great. 

Loved the parade of adult characters in the back all enjoying the song.  Head bopping.  There was Mr. Johnson, the lunch lady, and the teacher that Jacob has the feud with.

I, as the whitest person on the earth, have heard of Run DMC, but have never heard the song!  Sounded great!

My kids' elementary school in the 90s had them sing Hanukkah songs instead of Christmas songs.  Never figured that one out.  And it was the time of year when one of the Chinese moms would teach the kids how to make won tons.

[DearEvette]

34 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

I, as the whitest person on the earth, have heard of Run DMC, but have never heard the song!  Sounded great!

It was a staple of black radio stations. But I think the movie Die Hard was a lot of people's gateway to that song. 

[Ilovepie]

I am not surprised Barbara was all in on Christmas - this is the same woman who couldn't let go of bobbing for apples in a post-covid world......

I live in California and it's always been a "Winter Concert", one of which I just attended for my son's (public) high school concert band performance four days ago. They do sometimes play Christmas music, both secular and  traditional carols, but this year they did a Hanukkah medley. It's all over the place, which I don't have a problem with at all, and I love hearing different things. My favorite is a piece they started when my son was in 7th grade called "Santa the Barbarian". The jr. highers have done a piece of this every year for four years and this year was the conclusion called "Son of Santa the Barbarian" with one of the music teachers narrating as "Santa". It's been a delight and the kids got a standing ovation.

Although it's ridiculous for Melissa to take every inch of fridge space at the school, my favorite part of this episode was Melissa's negotiation with the school chef for refrigerator space and ending with the handshake for the cannoli with pistachios 😂

Edited December 6 by Ilovepie

[peeayebee]

1 hour ago, meep.meep said:

I, as the whitest person on the earth, have heard of Run DMC, but have never heard the song!  Sounded great!

My introduction to the song was at my son's special ed school around 2010 at their Christmas show. Could have been earlier. I have to say that I thought it was the weirdest Christmas song I'd ever heard. Yes, I'm white. I like the song now.

33 minutes ago, Ilovepie said:

My favorite is a piece they started when my son was in 7th grade called "Santa the Barbarian".

I am very curious about the lyrics.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

17 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

Eh, Barbara's students are 5 and 6 years old.  I'm not shocked they haven't heard them, or perhaps they have heard their music, but did not know the name of the group.

It was the older kids being taught the step dance by Janine who hadn't heard of Run DMC.  Barbara's kids were supposed to sing Deck the Halls, but I had serious doubts about that, too, because the 3rd line is "don we now our gay apparel" and we all know how silly kids can be.  And there's no way Barbara is going to start an explanation with kindergarteners of what "gay" means in that context as opposed to what they think it means.

1 hour ago, Ilovepie said:

Although it's ridiculous for Melissa to take every inch of fridge space at the school, my favorite part of this episode was Melissa's negotiation with the school chef for refrigerator space and ending with the handshake for the cannoli with pistachios

I think the chef rejected pistachio for chocolate! (haven't rewatched)

[Night Cheese]

I remember Jacob's (now)ex teaching the kids Christmas songs in season 2 and thinking that seemed unlikely at a public school nowadays. The purely Christmas show with no one considering that it could be ostracizing for even a small minority of children seemed almost unbelievable to me.

Overall this was a pretty underwhelming episode, but one thing I did chuckle at was Barbara losing her voice before her big attention-grab--I mean show-stopper. Since we all know how wonderful a singer Sheryl Lee Ralph is, I liked that she didn't actually sing and that those adorable kids did instead.

[Ilovepie]

2 hours ago, peeayebee said:

My introduction to the song was at my son's special ed school around 2010 at their Christmas show. Could have been earlier. I have to say that I thought it was the weirdest Christmas song I'd ever heard. Yes, I'm white. I like the song now.

I am very curious about the lyrics.

Ha! There are no lyrics - it is a concert piece for the band. My son plays trumpet. There is some voice over narration though that is very dramatic 😉

[Ilovepie]

17 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Jingle Bells doesn't mention Christmas so that should have been fine.

I said the same thing to my husband - there are lots of songs that are winter themed that don't mention Christmas! I feel like a quick google search would have brought up something....

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, DearEvette said:

It was a staple of black radio stations. But I think the movie Die Hard was a lot of people's gateway to that song. 

I have never seen Die Hard (I know, I know), and I  too am about as white as it gets, but for me my introduction to that song was seeing the video on VH1 Classic when we first got that a couple decades back :D. 

I knew of Run-D.M.C. well before I heard that song, though, 'cause I remember the version of "Walk This Way" that they did with Aerosmith getting a LOT of airplay on MTV when I was a little kid. 

[Galileo908]

22 hours ago, kathyk2 said:

Janine had a student who didn't celebrate holidays so she gave him a plain cookie. Jingle Bells doesn't mention Christmas so that should have been fine. The music teacher should have been in charge of the show.

It wasn't just a winter song that didn't mention Christmas, it also had to be a song the kids could dance to. Not a lot of steppable Christmas songs out there, whether they mention the holiday or not.

[mrsbagnet]

My favorite line was in the scene where Melissa is listing the names of the meats she's having at her dinner, and Gregory says "Do any of these words have endings?"

Edited December 7 by mrsbagnet

[Annber03]

15 hours ago, mrsbagnet said:

My favorite line was in the scene where Melissa is listing the names of the meats she's having at her dinner, and Gregory says "Do any of these words have endings?"

I loved when Gregory was trying to be sympathetic when Jacob was ranting about his brother, too, and every single point he tried to make was invalidated by Jacob :p. 

[amarante]

I am Jewish - grew up in such a predominantly Jewish neighborhood that I couldn't understand reading that Jews were a minority because the minority were the few Italian Catholics with Christmas decorations

That said we didn't celebrate Christmas - didn't have a Hanukah bush but we did visit Fifth Avenue to see the incredible windows. As an adult it was Chinese food and first run movies - SNL has a fantastic short which features Darlene Love belting out Christmas Time For The Jews with Smigel animated cartoon. 

I love music of all kinds so I spent a decade collecting Christmas Music of all genres - from Big Mama Thornton/Bessie Smith - The Drifters, Judy Garland, Guns n Roses to yes Run DMC. And of course Phil Spector's Christmas Album which is still something I enjoy listening to 50 years after its release. I relish the sheer variety of music styles that one could collect.

I think my school did have some kind of Christmas assembly but nothing overtly religious - no creche, no Silent Night. I guess to a purist Rudolph and Santa and even Frosty represent Christianity but none of the Jewish families seemed to care. You really can't escape Christmas If you navigate the world even if it does not resonate in any way. As a child I remember the Planetarium show had Santa flying across the skY

 

Edited December 8 by amarante

[Crashcourse]

Every year when SNL shows their Christmas special, I look forward to seeing the Christmastime for the Jews sketch.

 

 

Years ago when I worked for Special Olympics International, there was a compilation CD of Christmas songs called A Very Special Christmas 2 (there was also a 1 and 3) to benefit Special Olympics, and the songs were of all genres, including Run D.M.C.  I play it every Christmas.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Arriving late to the party...

Of course Jacob knew a Run-DMC song by heart.

Did we know before now Jacob had been on the wait list at Morehouse? That is so Jacob.

Sweet pea milk? Ew.

Caleb is quite the schmoozer. He got on Melissa's good side with a quickness. Even Greg was impressed.

O'Shon is kind and stuff during the winter holidays. (And he still foine AF. Go get your man, Ava.)

What was wrong with Greg's hair? Looked okay to me.

The kids killed it with their song and step dance! And yay for Kadijah being able to participate.

Keith David as Ava's father!!!! 🥳🥳🥳

[Crashcourse]

5 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Did we know before now Jacob had been on the wait list at Morehouse? That is s

I think he mentioned Morehouse previously (maybe the first season?) but I forgot what he said.

6 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

O'Shon is kind and stuff during the winter holidays. (And he still foine AF. Go get your man, Ava.)

Ava.  You know you want him!  😜

7 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

What was wrong with Greg's hair? Looked okay to me.

Yeah, I thought he looked kinda sexy with the longer hair.