Christmas update, part 1

Well, unless someone posts while I’m writing this, it looks like I’ll be the first to post after Christmas. :- )

First of all, I just want to say that it was so great being with family this year, and being close enough to the family we couldn’t be with to call and not have to wait until later at night. The past couple of Christmases have been very special for Trey and I, but this year was definitely better in a lot of ways…I got to sing a lot, too, so that made me happy. Now, on to the events…

Caroling on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday went well – it was tons of fun singing, at least before we switched out basses, and the whole quartet agreed that we sounded great together. The audience was appreciative as well, thanking us and telling us how great we sounded as they left the movie and we were waiting to start the next show. Two news crews, one from CBS and one from NBC showed up at different points in the weekend, but we didn’t make it onto the broadcast (thanks for watching anyway, mom!). Saturday night Trey came down after work and went to dinner with us – the quartet plus Santa and the organist for the sing-a-long. I think Trey was a little tired to watch the Susie Snowflake and Hardrock, Coco & Joe cartoons, but maybe next year…at least he got to see the organist in his Christmas tree costume!

Sunday morning I was up for church again – what a rough weekend when the 4th Sunday of advent is also Christmas Eve. I did 3 church services in 26 hours, which is nothing compared to the music director of the church, who himself did at least 7 of the at least 12 masses they had between 5pm Saturday and noon Monday. Crazy! Anyway, Sunday morning went well, so much so that I found out that the pastor was really happy with my singing. The music director was thrilled, and now I figure that as long as I want this gig, it’s mine. Hooray for job security!

The afternoon was spent vegging a little, watching the Bears try to lose (thank goodness they didn’t!), and wrapping gifts before heading over to mom’s. What a wonderful evening! I’ve totally missed wurst and sauerkraut for x-mas eve dinner, and this year we threw some stuffed cabbage into the mix. Talking about how wonderful the food was made me wonder what normal people eat on Christmas Eve (anyone?). The company was great, too, and included the new dog, Cassie (go to Evi’s blog for a picture).

After that it was time for midnight mass, which was long, but nice. Cantoring and singing in the choir was a little nuts because I ran up and down the stairs to the choir loft several times – I joked that between midnight and noon mass the next day I made up an extra workout for the week! Still, it was nice – the psalm for both services was to the tune of Greensleeves, with verses that got just a little tricky, but what fun to sing! At midnight I did “O, Holy Night” as well, something I’ve never had the opportunity to sing.

Ok, I think I’ll stop there for now – don’t want this to get too long! Hope you all had a great day!