In years past, I will admit to having been a big of a Scroogette when it came to some things about Christmas, such as Walmart playing Christmas music soon after Halloween or hearing the song “Holly Jolly Christmas” over and over again on the radio. And while I’ll admit that I still don’t particularly love Holly Jolly Christmas, I have changed my attitude about Christmas in a lot of other respects.
Last Saturday, Matt and I were able to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas concert again (this has become a favorite tradition of ours for awhile now–in fact, two years ago, Matt proposed to me after the MoTab Christmas concert in the parking lot of our favorite eatery–Leatherby’s–which we also eat at after this event every year).
As the unearthly beauty of the music washed over me in the Conference Center, I felt a deep gratitude for the rich musical heritage my parents have given me–so many of my students make fun of the arts or just don’t participate in them, and I’m so grateful that I grew up going to choir concerts and musicals and ballets. Truly, my Christmas would not be complete without a generous sampling of stunning choir numbers and some good old fashioned Christmas caroling. It made me think of all the Christmas musical traditions I’ve participated in over the years: the midnight organ show at a Salt Lake church on Christmas Eve, a family from Bountiful who put on a bell show every December, singing in show choirs all around town, going to the Nutcracker with my mom and sisters . . . and each day, but especially today, I find myself especially grateful for the gift of hearing and the gift of sound.
We were happy to be joined this year by our friends Mike and Ashtin, who just got married last summer (see that post here). We all went out to eat at Leatherby’s, where we were also joined by friends Kayla and Sam (who also got married this summer, incidentally).
I’m so grateful too that I have always had friends who appreciate the arts as well.
Side note: when guest artist Alfie Boe sang “Bring Him Home,” I totally teared up.
It was seriously that amazing.
And it made me over-the-top excited for the Les Miserables movie coming out on Christmas Day.
What a happy season this is already shaping up to be 🙂
What Christmas music traditions did you have growing up? Or which do you currently have?