LOL is the juggling neverthriving (a word that means a group of jugglers) made up of 7th and 8th graders who I direct during the school year.  Every December, LOL stays at school for their show of the month, and they do a special chapel for the younger students: grades K through six.  LOL did this chapel service last week, and, as usual, it was a hit.  The younger kids so look up to the middle school, and so look forward to being in LOL themselves some day.  

Because this gig is so close to Christmas, we tweaked a lot of our music to fit the season.  Our opening routine- usually to BOB's "It's a Ska, Ska, Ska, Ska World", was done to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree".  The teams longest juggling routine, normally done to Chris Rice's "Cartoons" was performed to "Jingle Bell Rock", and the rabbit production, which is normally done to Cusco's traditional Peruvian folk music, was this time performed to the TransSiberian Orchestra.  You get the idea.  The most fun change was replacing "I Want to Know What Love Is" with Wham's "Last Christmas".  We had fun recreating so much of the show for our school mates.

As for the performance, LOL was on point, as usual.  Sunny stunned with her tumbling- a skill she came with, NOT sometihng I taught her! Eva was flawless with hr machete juggling, and Eli was hysterical as the victin in "The Good Nerd", our version of the Good Samaritan.

The challenge came when Hannah went home sick, just an hour before chapel was cheduled to start.  Several last minute changes had to be made, Hadley filled in nicely in "Last Christmas", and Shaylee performed the dove production for the first time since 7th grade as if she had never stopped.  Meanwhile, dozens of younger , wide-eyed students, were left looking forward to when it's their turn  to be part of LOL.