Last Day of School Before Christmas Vacation..another complaint

I am very annoyed at the amount of competition that has descended upon this school in the last few months.  The teachers have taken over "Spirit Week" for the week before Holiday Break, and all of a sudden it is one competition after another.  You are supposed to bring in a picture of yourself when you were a baby so the kids and teachers can guess who it is.  I have no baby pictures of me because I don't know what happened to them as my mother is gone.  I don't like this, it makes the teachers seem too familiar, and lacks professionalism.

 I don't like these other competitions either, the "best door decoration" is another one of the competitions.  Why isn't it enough for people to be happy in the season and to add some color and joy to their doors, instead of making it mine's better than yours and so forth.  I think this is contributing to the angst, anxiety, lack of compassion, anger, lack of a sense of community or caring towards others.

But the thing that has bothered me the most in the last few weeks is the fact that they have summarily done away with the Holiday Concert during the morning of the last day of school before Holiday break.  I am so sad about this, it has been such a tradition for years at this school.  Instead, there will be a "pie in the face" contest, and there will be some people running around in Grinch costumes, and there will be some loud yelling and screaming, in the name of "school culture".  This smacks of a lack of vision on the one hand and a lack of leadership on the other.  Does no one realize that the holidays should be sacred?  I am all for making school culture a priority, but it comes from an organic and quiet place, not a lot of people making jokes about "flash mobs" during the chorus songs.  Not appropriate, not funny, and really cruel. 

I remember fondly, and will for a long time coming, the days when the last day before the Christmas break began with advisories giving gifts to each other, and a team breakfast.  Then we listened to the Choral Singers from YHS as they strolled through the halls singing Christmas carols to all of us.  Right after that we all gathered in the gymnasium where the jazz band was first playing, then the choruses all sang a number a piece, and then the bands all played pieces.  We had the ugly sweater contest, and that was fun, but controlled.  We all went off to lunch and recesses after that, and in the afternoon we watched a quiet movie, or we decorated our gingerbread houses or we read stories about the holidays to the children as they dreamed of already being home for the holidays and playing with their siblings, and toys and making cookies to leave out for Santa Claus that night before Christmas.  Where are you Christmas?  Where did you go? Why have you stolen our tradition??

 This is how I feel, and I hope someone actually reads this and thinks about what they have done to destroy the last beautiful tradition that we had in this school.  Amen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J3XG0ZRcdU