By now Karla had the school humming along. She had met almost all the parents and with the end of the year close, the last big item on the school calendar was the school breakup and Christmas party. This was a local tradition where the children put on items and all received a gift from under a Christmas tree with Father Christmas, a local grandfather who had been doing this job for years, attending. At school they had to practise a repertoire of songs and Christmas carols. As well, there was a short school play that everyone participated in and individual items. Lorena, for example would play a piece on the piano while some of the other girls would perform a dance routine. Background scenes would need to be painted and the Top Plateau Hall just up the road decorated with streamers and a small pine tree brought in by another farmer, decorated with coloured lights and children's craft. She was given an allocation of money by the Board to buy a book for every child and decided to support a bookshop in Masterton rather than just sending away an order to a national outlet, that Ted always did.
