Bedtime Karaoke

When I was in preschool, my mom bought me a Karaoke machine for Christmas. It's one of those gifts that seems cool and fun in the moment, but then, after the thrill of unwrapping the present on Christmas day, you never use it in day to day life. I didn't use the Karaoke machine for a few weeks after the holidays, which frustrated my mom because she had spent a fair amount of time and money on the gift. Eventually, she decided to implement a nightly bedtime ritual of singing Karaoke before I went to sleep.

Every night, after I put on my pajamas and brushed my teeth, my mom and I would hop onto my plastic, Dora the Explorer themed, bed at power up my Karaoke machine. We exclusively sang Britney Spears and songs from the Tarzan and Lion King soundtracks. My favorite song to belt out before bedtime was "I Just Can't Wait to be King" from the Lion King. I would sing the Simba and Nala parts and my mom would sing the Zazoo's parts.

I thought our nightly ritual was SO cool. Showing off our Karaoke skills became my favorite part of every sleepover I hosted. Eventually we stopped the ritual because the Karaoke made me too hyper to fall asleep, and my mom also wanted to start reading me the Harry Potter books before bed. To this day though, I still know every word to the Lion King and Tarzan Soundtracks, as well as every word to "Baby One More Time" and "Opps!... I Did It Again."