This year, I made sure that my kids signed up to give their family history presentations on Friday. This gave me four days to discover the one non-English ancestor that I was sure was dangling precariously from a distant branch of my family tree.
"There's got to be something more interesting than fish & chips on one of our sides," I said with hopeful anticipation to my husband as I dug through a thick stack of family history files.
He wished me luck and turned back to the game.
On Monday, two of Kellen's classmates wore saris to school. Another showed the class how to use chopsticks.
On Tuesday, Gina, Maria, and Anthony Jr. brought in cream-filled cannoli, a jar of Venetian glass beads, and spaghetti and meatballs respectively.
I started to sweat.
On Wednesday, one student brought in her grandparents, who taught the class a traditional Bangladeshi dance.
That's when I got the hives.
When my son came home from school on Thursday, I told him that I would rather not hear him count to ten in Japanese. It might push me over the edge.
"I have to bring in something!" wailed my son before he went to bed.
Friday morning, my son was pleasantly surprised to discover that he is descended from a rogue Viking tribe who vacationed in England for seven centuries... and ate store-bought chocolate chip cookies.
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gave you an award (actually 2) on my blog today. 4kidsandalargecoffee.blogspot.com
HAHA! We have the same problem and I may totally copy you!
love it. I remember being the kid with the "boring heritage" in elementary school. this one hit home for sure.
Actualy at our school, being the northern european kid is probably going to be 'different'... but I don't think our school does heritage week. Bummer. We could totally rock the fish and chips.
Eh, I bet there's a smidgen of pioneer stock in you. What's wrong with old American west history?
This is great! Everyone knows Vikings eat chocolate chip cookies!
Don't even try to keep up. Your reward? The ONLY mom without hives. :)
Yes, those family heritage weeks are always "fun." Irish soda bread isn't very exciting, nor is corned beef and cabbage. I guess I could enroll all my kids in Irish dancing so they have something to share with the class!
ROFLOL - amazing the things you can find out about your family tree when mom is under pressure :)
Lol! Awesome. Sounds like he had the best presentation by far.
It's so much better than my brother when he was in high school who tried to join the Native American Club only to be kicked out a few months later because they found out he didn't have any Native blood in him! I would have sent my son to school with a picture of different guns and told him our family came from a bunch of outlaws. Then the teacher would have a little more compassion for me at home!
Other crazy, competitive moms may scoff... but you know that was the kids' favorite treat!
I like the chocolate chip cookies!
awesome! anyway, why do you think the vikings came to england? for the cookies!
At least your kids aren't descendants of Russian peasants. They'll never have to act out being attacked in a pogrom...
Oooh I hate heritage week. I always end up making buttloads of scones for the English side because heck if I know anything about the Portuguese heritage.
Cit
You totally should have sent cornbread and baked beans. LOL!
I bet the teacher/janitor enjoyed cleaning up the mess from the store bought cookies more than the meatball mess. =)
well my heritage is fun too! one side were all nazi's and the other were slave owners in mississippi! Luckily I married into the south pacific so that our kids don't have to resort to tragic pasts for family history all the time!
You KNOW those kids enjoyed those chocolate chip cookies far more than the cannoli!!
Hey, you totally forgot about deep fried mars bars! Traditional scottish treat!!!lol Scary, but true!
Could had just had him bring in a football and throw a pass like the "Vikings" do on tv.
Chocolate chip cookies? At least make chocolate and pb chip scones to be English.
I hoppe I have a girl someday. I am royal by Italian blood, so I can send her to school in a Halloween princess getup.
r u kidding me that i have to worry bout this shit soon ???
good golly but you always make me laugh! Love ya...
jackie
You should have them dress up like Cromwellians and do the beheading of a king, or Puritans and bring turkey cookies. Or something.
Haha. My kids had to tell a story about someone in their family line and our claim to fame is John D Lee, you know the guy who was shot into his grave. Oh wonderful!
LOL ;-)
I love it, very creative for sure :)
Well i am sure the kids ate yours at least!
You are a hoot, Jana; and congratulations on the successful genealogical search for those vacationing Vikings!
i feel like you are living my life 27 years later-you really are too funny
Ugh. My kids have had to do the same. How do you nicely put that your Mom's maiden name is the same as a small town in rural Arkansas?? Yeah, THAT'S special!!
I was so waiting to hear you dressed him in green and sent him with a bottle of guinness and a sleeve of keg cups.
fish & chips, haggis and beer is about all we have. Good improvising!
good story! one of the best on your blog. (this from a new RS pres who is beginning to see, from a slightly different perspective, how much need there is everywhere...)
what! take pride in your english ancestry I always bring in trifle the best dang desert on the planet! which beats our german side with Sauerkraut and Weisswurst. but at least you didn't have him bring in an axe and tell him to plunder and pillage the classroom.
my family heritage is pretty boring too, so I was excited to marry a man that is actually on a tribal roll of a Native American tribe... now at least my kids have SOMETHING exciting to say..... " My daddy's people were the first people living in America. They hunted and fished and were a peaceful tribe.. until my mommy's people came over, gave them smallpox, slaughtered them, enslaved them and took their land. Now they have casinos. The end."
Isn't Spotted D*ck an English dessert? Not appropriate for kids, but still...I couldn't help but think that immediately when i saw the cannoli and went "hey that reminds me!"
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