My son's school performances are always a stressful affair.
Before they even happen there's the deciding who gets to use our measly ticket allocation, which is difficult even as a single parent.
Then there's the inevitable scramble for the best seats, everyone arriving early, and busily trying to gauge where their little treasure will appear on stage so as to find the optimum viewing position.
But for this year's nativity offering I think I absolutely nailed it.
Instead of going along to one of the actual performances, I took up the school's kind offer of watching the full dress-rehearsal.
They like to have just a few spectators, so the children have an idea what the actual performance will be like, and presumably to give the rehearsal a smidgen of atmosphere and applause.
There was no scrum for seats, no one blocking my camera and my son was so relaxed he spent most of the time crossing his eyes to make me laugh.
Plus all his grandparents now get to go and see him 'perform' now.
And, probably most importantly, I didn't even have to buy a ticket for the mandatory naff raffle.
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