My parents do a lot of embarrassing things! Usually, it’s my dad who sings silly songs or tells corny jokes around my friends. But a few weeks ago, it was my mother who played the embarrassing-parent role.

While my mom and I were shopping, we ran into my teacher, who mentioned that the school didn’t have a music teacher to help our class put together a performance for Winter Fair. And, right then and there, my mom said, “I know the perfect song and dance. I’ll teach it to the kids!”

Before I could say “Please don’t”, my mom had agreed to come to my class every morning at 9:30 for a week. Oh, and just to be clear, it’s not as if she’s a professional entertainer. My parents run a small grocery store, and the only singing my mom does is in the shower.

“Um,” I said on our way home, “are you sure this is such a good idea?” “Of course! ” she said. “If we want your school Winter Fair to happen, people need to step up and volunteer.” “I know volunteering is important,” I said, “but couldn’t you help out in Tex and Indi’s kindergarten instead?” She laughed, “Don’t be silly. We will have fun!”

“OK, fellas!” my teacher said at 9:28 on Monday. “We’re going to stop silent reading a little early today because a special guest is here to help us with a performance for Winter Fair. Let’s all welcome Arizona’s mother.”

I looked up to discover my mom standing at the front of the room wearing the world’s silliest snowflake hat. “I’m super excited to be here with you!” my mom said, “I’m going to teach you a fun little song-and-dance performance I learned a few years back, when I did some theater in college. Here goes !”

Oh please, oh please, I said over and over in my head, let there be a fire drill, or an assembly, or a power failure, or anything to stop my mom from completely embarrassing herself- and me!!!

But apparently, my mom was not at all concerned about looking silly. She turned on some background music and started singing and dancing away.

“I can’t believe this is happening” was all I could think.

My mom turned out to be more than a little OK at performing.

A mother is a person who, seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.

—Tenneva Jordan

I knew I was not supposed to be quite so excited. I was too old for that. At age eleven, the oldest and my mom’s “grown up” girl, I had to keep my cool. I was in middle school after all. But every chance I got, when I was alone, I checked each present under the tree. I read every tag and felt every package, guessing at the contents within. I had examined each gift so often that I could tell which present went to which person without even looking at the tags.

It had been a tough year for my family. Whenever my mom looked over at the tree and scattered(撒) presents, she would sigh and warn us, “There won’t be as much for Christmas this year. Try not to be disappointed.” Christmas had traditionally been a time for my parents to spoil us. In years past, the presents would pile up and spill out from under the tree, taking over the living room. I had heard the phrase “giving is better than receiving,” but thought that whoever had said that must have been out of their mind. Getting presents was the whole point! It was the reason I couldn’t get to sleep on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas morning, we eagerly waited in the hallway until Dad told us everything was ready. We rushed into the living room and let the wrapping paper fly. We made weak attempts to wait and watch while other family members opened their presents, but as the time passed we lost our self-control.

“Here’s another one for you,” said Mom as she handed me a package. I looked at it, confused. Having spent so much time examining the presents before Christmas, I recognized this one. But it had not been mine. It was my mom’s. A new label had been put on it, with my name written in my mother’s handwriting.

“Mom, I can’t…”

I was stopped by my mother’s eager, joyful look.

I have always remembered that Christmas fondly.

There was once a troubled family. The parents spoiled their children. The son, John, loved to play video games all day long when summer vacation was around and he did not like to study. The daughter, Emily, on the other hand, loved studying without play. To her, video games were for foolish people who were unable to achieve anything useful. Life went on with parents complaining and not changing anything.

One day two new neighbors arrived in their neighborhood. One lived on the right side of John’s house while the other lived on the left side of John’s house. These two people were twins. They did not communicate with anyone other than themselves. John and his family felt uncomfortable living right between them. Strange sounds came from their houses every midnight until the afternoon. People heard and saw thunder and lightning coming from the house. After a couple of weeks of lightning flashing, machines roaring, this disturbed every household. Everyone could not help but wonder what their new neighbors were doing. It was whispered that they were inventing a time machine in secret.

People were beginning to dislike them. Every moment they heard these noises, they felt like something was going to explode soon. To deal with this problem John and Emily’s parents walked to both houses to speak with the owners. But on each door hung a sign that said, “DO NOT DISTURB!” They tried knocking the door and no one responded or came out from the house. The machine noise kept going but once in a while it did stop for a small break before it continued. They tried nearly every day to get the attention of their new neighbors. But in the end they gave up. They decided to send their kids to get their attention instead. So they made a plan and the kids successfully entered the neighbor’s houses.

Unexpectedly, the kids both experienced a journey to their own future there.

After returning from the neighbor’s houses, the two kids changed totally.