All They Want for Christmas Is...

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Students at Smithtown Elementary School kept a longstanding tradition beaming – with their voices and their smiles.

The school’s annual student holiday sing-along –which has been running for more than 20 years– is highlighted by a special performance of the classic Christmas song “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,” which was written and composed by a teacher in Smithtown.

Fifth graders lead the way while the younger students in the audience sing with them. Adding to the spirit of the event, all of the children in the audience who are missing their front teeth are invited to take their place at the front of the stage for a special performance of the song.

In the 1940s, Donald Gardner, a music teacher at the New York Avenue School (which now serves as the Smithtown CSD administrative offices building), was working with a second-grade class to prepare a song for a Christmas show. As Gardner’s students laughed and grinned their way through a rehearsal, he noticed that many students were missing their front teeth, which inspired him to write the holiday tune.

Although Gardner passed away in 2004 – decades after the original Smithtown youngsters with toothless grins belted out those verses for the first time – his song lives on throughout the world and right in its own backyard through the sounds of the Smithtown El students.

Smithtown Elementary School Principal Janine Lavery is proud to keep the tradition going. This year, the fifth-grade singers performed for their school on December 23, just before dismissing for the holiday/winter recess. Students were supported on stage by a band comprised of general music teacher Esther Yoon, reading teacher Ronnie Cohen, orchestra teacher Lindsay Payne, band teacher Frank Scheno, parent musicians Craig Cooper and Gregg Krockta and former Smithtown Elementary School and current High School West student Derek Madarasz.

Photo courtesy of the Smithtown Central School District