One of the great perks of having musical children is that during the holiday season they get called upon to perform in various settings. As we support our little musicians, we find ourselves at all sorts of lovely events that we might not normally have attended. Which means that we end up with an extra healthy dose of Christmas spirit, because nothing brings Christmas spirit quicker than a Christmas carol or hymn. I lean towards the more traditional Christmas music myself. I prefer to hear the Sussex Carol or I Saw Three Ships over say I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus or Frosty The Snowman. But to each his own.
The fun began with Jonah's Christmas piano recital. He hates these things. The kid would prefer to never ever be in the spotlight. Seeing that it is a parent's job to consistently force their child out of his or her comfort zone, Jonah did not get out of this one, despite his best efforts. We just have to make sure that he is ultra prepared. And he was. Contrary to his grim prediction that he was going to kill over half way through his piece, he not only survived the ordeal but nailed his rendition of Joy to the World. It was one of about five renditions that morning, and it never got old.
Believe it or not, that is a look of relief on his face.
That night was Sabrina's turn. She had gotten a last minute phone call begging her to play for the ward Christmas party, an event we hadn't really planned on attending. It ended up being a delightful evening, and Sabrina played splendidly. I don't know that she has ever played a solo for a crowd quite this big before. For a girl who's nerves can get the best of her, she confidently walked onto the stage and played Silent Night, unaccompanied, and the Spirit was instantly in the room.
Two nights later, Jessica played prelude and intermission music for Alicia's studio's Nutcracker performance.
Jessica's cello yearns to play in such concert halls. His sound just fills the room. I could listen to the girl play all night!
And we got six free tickets to watch the Nutcracker! Jessica sat next to me and purred as we listened to two hours of Tchaikovsky, oh and the dancers were beautiful as well.
The next week brought the junior high Christmas concert. This school does something great. They couple the concert with an art show. Art students' work is displayed, and the orchestra students play in solos and ensembles as entertainment during the show. Sabrina and Abby played a beautiful version of Still, Still, Still as well as Carol of the Bells.
It was so fun to watch Sabrina and Spencer play together! They chose God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman as their duet. As you can see, I've brainwashed my children to only like traditional Christmas carols, that way I don't have to listen to cheesy viola arrangements of Santa Baby and other such nonsense. But you know, to each his own.
Jessica's orchestra teacher was asking recently about what instruments all of my kids play. When I told her that we had a cellist, violist, and two violinists (including myself), she said, "You have a perfect family string quartet!" I had never really thought about that, but we do. As Neil and I were bringing these babies into the world, I wasn't really thinking, "Now this one will be a violinist, and we need to have at least one more baby so that we can have a violist to round out the ensemble!" But I must say that it has worked out nicely. Of course, I only count as half a violinist. So it's not quite a full quartet.
Sabrina played a few solos to fill in the time between ensembles. That girl gets into her music!
I'm a proud mommy right now. Both Sabrina and Spencer earned the coveted spot of first chair in their respective sections this term. That means that all of my instrumentalists are currently sitting first chair right now. This was a big deal for Sabrina because she got to be concert mistress for last week's concert.
She was beaming as she stood up to lead the orchestra in tuning.
It is also a big deal for Spencer seeing that he is only a seventh grader. Spencer found himself in the advanced orchestra this year due to the fact that musical theater conflicted with intermediate orchestra. Two weeks into the school year, he was begging me to move him out of the class. "It's too hard! I don't know what I'm doing," were his exact words. Most things come very easy for Spencer. He tends to excel with little effort. So when things do get challenging, his first instinct is to bail out. And since it is my job to consistently force my children out of their comfort zones, he didn't get out of this one. I told him that I was confident that if he practiced hard enough, he would find himself caught up to the 8th and 9th graders in no time. I love when I'm right. And I love when my kids learn the value of doing hard things. At the end of the night, he told me how glad he was that he was in the advanced orchestra. So am I.
The other benefit of my kiddos' seating arrangement is that I can get them both in the same shot. It's a little thing, but I was excited about it. The seating will all be different by next term, I'm quite sure of it. But for now, this mother will relish her children's accomplishments.
Last night was the final concert of the season. Yesterday was a little bit crazy. Neil wanted to wire his own internet and surround sound in the new house to save money. While our house sat with minimal progress for nearly two months, everything is happening at once now. The insulators and sheetrock guys are ready to go, and we happen to be in the midst of the shortest days of the year right now. Which means that Neil had to take work off to try to hurry and run some wire before they start closing up the walls.
While he was madly stringing wire, I was madly running to the store for cakes and cookies and making creamy vegetable soup for Jessica's fundraising dinner at the high school. Neil rushed through the door covered in insulation the same time I was running out the door with crockpots and baked goods. "Get showered. I'll meet you at the school," I said as I kissed him and ran out the door.
Jessica and Katelyn played lovely Christmas duets while we ate soup and rolls and salad. The orchestra is going to San Francisco this year, so the mad dash to come up with fundage has begun.
Once our tummies were full, it was time for the concert. I loved this concert for two reasons. Jessica got to guest conduct during one of the pieces.
This was quite a treat for this child who already owns her own baton and dreams of conducting her own little band of musicians someday.
I also loved it for the beautiful Corelli piece the orchestra played, complete with quartet solo parts that were so beautiful! Again, Jessica's cello really knows how to sing in such settings. Well, she knows how to make him sing.
The night ended with a piece that has become tradition. Christmas Sarajevo. Jessica hates the piece, but her teacher loves it and so does the crowd. It's kind of a Transiberian style Christmas medley which is pretty intense when you're playing a big instrument like a cello. Jessica finishes this piece feeling like she just won a sawing contest.
Jess finished the night with a yearbook photo.
And a silly shot with her kindred spirit and favorite stand partner.
Lest you think that this was the end of our evening, oh no no no, it had only just begun. You see Jonah is doing colonial days at school today, which means he had to do a colonial project. He of course picked making homemade bread for his project. And naturally this is a project that any fifth grader could pull off single-handedly. I love these parent projects disguised as student projects. Jonah didn't want to make just any bread. He wanted to make his dad's special Finnish sweet bread so as to dazzle all of his classmates.
So after spending all day in a 28 degree house pulling wire and wrestling with insulation, Neil began, at 9:00, a three hour bread making process. He's just that kind of dad. I stayed up until midnight to help him. And by help, I mean sat at the counter and watched Neil braid bread and begged for a slice of that piping hot piece of heaven the minute it came out of the oven. You know, because I'm just that kind of wife. I was too tired to snap a picture last night, but here's one from three years ago just so you can get the gist of what kind of bready goodness we sent Jonah out the door with this morning.
One thing I'm sure the colonists didn't have to worry about was coming up with laborious projects to do in behalf of their ten year old's education. But then they didn't have convection ovens and paper plates and insulated homes wired with internet and surround sound either. I'll just shut-up now and go get myself a slice of bread. Merry Christmas!
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