Coming up for air...

It's December! Last year seemed light but this year we are having a full bore December. So far...

Last Tuesday - school Christmas concert. Two kids, two choirs, two beginner string orchestras. Maybe I listened with my parent ears instead of my musician ears this year because it wasn't as torturous as I remember from last year. Jeff was late, Nicholas slept through it. Elementary school music teachers are saints. There's a special place in heaven just for them.

Last Wednesday - can't remember, it was so long ago. There was something, though.

Last Thursday - dress rehearsal. Four kids, three choirs, several hours, lots of hard work and multiple kid drop offs and pick ups.

Last Friday - MCO Christmas concert! This was the first time that Nicholas had been on stage. His choir sang Gesu Bambino as a duet with the adult choir, which was lovely, and then Santa Claus is Coming to Town, with jazz brass accompaniment, which was a riot. They had movements. Nicholas rocked it.

Adam - Youth Chorus; Ellie - Children's Chorus; Kate and Nicholas - Young Singers' Chorus

The concert was spectacular, they always are. I never actually saw Kate or Adam on stage, though I know they were there. I sneaked a quick look behind me at Ellie during a few bars rest and she was singing beautifully. Adam came home from the concert and spent the next couple of days picking out the parts for Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day (Gardner version) and Gaudete (Brett Stewart version) on the piano, which I loved. He is developing a real love for good music, because of choir.

The stage, almost fully loaded. Just the littlest choir is missing

Me!

Nicholas and Kate. This must have been Gesu Bambino because otherwise they would have been bouncing around pretending to be Santa. This looks too normal for that!

Saturday - 3 hour rehearsal for me in the morning and then an evening performance of Handel's Messiah. It was a shortened version - mostly choruses - which meant that I was on duty for most of the movements. I had forgotten how brutal the bassoon parts in the Messiah are. Whoever the poor bassoonist was that Handel knew had a serious pair of lungs on him, because there are no breaks. Not many bars rest... you've got to have some serious chops to pull it off. I wasn't sure that I had the chops! It comes to something when the MCO concert, highlight of my year, is being regarded as a training exercise to get my embouchure in order for the next day! Saturday also involved the creche festival and a work Christmas party and we made it to every event that day. I was hoping to get out of the work party but no... I did my social duty in orchestra black!

Sunday - Messiah again. We took all the kids and made them sit through it. It was hard work, but loads of fun. I was quite proud of myself for getting through it creditably!

Monday - Disneyland! We were given free tickets to Disneyland so we skipped school for the day and went. We were there from park opening to park close. Fourteen hours at the happiest place on earth. It was the coldest place in Southern California I think and so we were much happier once Jeff showed up after work with some extra coats and scarves! Kate lost her second tooth and I walked around with her tooth in my pocket for much of the day!

Last night I hosted book club, and today I am coming up for air. Unfortunately coming up for air involves dealing with an enormous pile of laundry and ironing. And decorating the tree, which has been up for several days but is still bare because we have not had a spare minute anywhere! I might actually get to stay home in a couple more days (we're out again tonight) and then we'll just coast in to Christmas, hopefully with nothing else to do. I am looking forward to some down time!