Christmas Recitals, Dinners, Nativity Scenes and Such

We had a Christmas Piano Recital on Friday for my students in the Piano Room of our home. We had 13 students play, some Christmas songs and some not, and all the students did a fantastic job!

Peter played Up on the Housetop, Libby played Oh Come All Ye Faithful, and We Wish You a Merry Christmas - at the end of that she stood up, turned around and yelled out, "Merry Christmas!" Mary played Pirates at Sea and the Pink Panther; Jesse played Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, and Joseph played High Point Toccata (see him play it in this post) and Bill Bailey Rag. After High Point Toccata, one Dad called out to Joseph, "Can you play that any faster?" It brought a chuckle to everyone.

This is Libby and her cute friend Sydney. I love these toothless grins!

Here's Jesse and Joseph - I don't know - what kind of caption do you put on this?

We had this Recital at five, and by 6:30 we were over at the Church for the Ward Christmas party. After eating, they had a live Nativity presentation. Joshua started out the presentation singing Joy to the World in a quartet. Bruce and I were asked to play the parts of Joseph and Mary.Bruce's costume was totally authentic: the Kafia from Jerusalem, the white robe from Cairo, and the sandals from Athens. The beard was uniquely his own! My costume was semi-authentic: the white veil from Cairo, and then it veers off - the manta (shawl) from La Paz, and the bath robe from Provo. LOL (Mom and Dad - that means Laugh Out Loud)We had to walk through the crowd, go to three different inn-keepers, and then go onto the stage. As we went on the stage, I got rid of the big pillow, and David & Stephanie let us "borrow" their 3-week old baby boy Corbin. He was awake and squirming at first, so I put a pacifier in his mouth. Thankfully because of the blanket, and us being up on the stage, the audience couldn't see it. When I put the pacifier in, it was right at the part of the program where Mary started singing a solo of "Away in a Manger". Her sweet, angelic voice singing that beautiful carol was very touching. As the rest of the Activity Days girls joined in, singing, "Asleep, asleep,Asleep, asleep," Corbin's eyes were literally going half closed and then closed. He fell asleep right at that moment! It was surreal, it was so authentic.
Jesse and her friends sang With Wondering Awe, as the Wise Men came to worship.
Josh also sang Far, Far Away in Judea's Plains. I have to confess that I never heard Jesse or Josh sing. I couldn't have told you that those songs were sung. The reason is because Bruce and I and that baby were in our little world up there on the stage. It took me until the next morning to figure out how to describe it, and it is that we had all the feelings come back to us that we had when each of our children were born. It was a sweet, sweet experience!
At the end of the program, one of the priests in our ward, Connor, sang Silent Night, and by then I was overcome by emotion, and it came out in my eyes. You can see the glint on my nose in the picture.Amidst all this, Josh had a date for a Seminary dance that night. He went with Hannah, and they doubled with Drew and Tessia. The girls were kind enough to come to the Ward Christmas Party beforehand so that Drew and Josh could sing! And don't forget there was a free dinner!
And here is Libby, signing her heart out so that Santa could come.

On Sat night, Jesse had a clogging recital. Here she is clogging on the far right in the front. Isn't she cute?!?!

Merry Christmas to all - it's getting closer!