Hallelujah!

On Saturday night Marilyn and I continued the tradition we started last year by going to the Messiah Sing-In at Abravanel Hall.  This performance featured the Utah Symphony, the Utah Symphony Chorus, and some amazing soloists including Jessica Jones, Sarah Coit, Christian Sanders, and Markel Reed.  The audience is invited to sing along during the choruses and you can even purchase a copy of the score for $9.00.  Last year Marilyn and I had no idea about this tradition and we were basically just spectators.  This year we were prepared (we bought our copies before the performance) and I will tell you that it is a lot more fun to be a part of the action.  It actually brought back many wonderful memories of singing in the choir when I was in college.  Handel's Messiah is such a beautiful and stirring piece of music and it is so appropriate for the upcoming Christmas holiday.  It definitely gave me a big injection of Christmas spirit!  All of the soloists were amazing but I absolutely loved Markel Reed's rendition of  "The trumpet shall sound" and so did the crowd because he got thunderous applause!  Of course I also loved the "Hallelujah" chorus because it sounded so incredible with the acoustics in Abravanel Hall.  It was a lovely evening and I hope it will be a tradition for many years to come.

Note:  I may have been a bit boisterous with my hallelujahs because Marilyn gave me a look!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

I usually get pretty excited to pull out the Christmas decorations but this year I was even more excited because I got to decorate my new house!

I like to put up my decorations the day after Thanksgiving because I like to enjoy them for as long as possible.  This year I started decorating at 11:30 pm!

It took me a while to decide where to put the tree because I had a few options in this house.  I decided that I liked it best in front of the window near the fireplace.

My sister found these poinsettias for me at the Home Depot for only $12.99.  I absolutely love them!

My sister Marilyn has started making the cutest quilted table runners.  This is the Christmas one she made for me.  I love it!

The tree skirt that I made last year!

A few more views.

It makes me so happy to sit in this room and look at the tree!  I love the holiday season so much and I am looking forward to many fun activities in December!

Note:  If you are interested in one of these cute table runners (she makes them for all holidays), you can contact my sister at thequiltingbeellc@gmail.com.

Quarters for Christmas

This year the HHS student body officers chose KSL's Quarters for Christmas as the recipient of their school-wide holiday service project.  For one week they went around to fourth period classes and sold paper links for 10 cents.  Not only did Hunter High look quite festive with red and green paper chains in every classroom, but the SBOs were able raise $1500 to donate!  I am really proud of that total because it is all from students!  We did not have corporate sponsors or receive large parent donations.  In fact, most of the money came in the form of crumpled dollar bills and coins.  KSL invited us to make an on-air donation on the first day of winter break and it was a great experience!  Here are some pictures of our visit.

In the lobby of KSL Broadcast House.

We got to go right on the floor during a broadcast.

We got a tour of the newsroom.  Whenever we walked through an area, our guide would announce our donation and people would clap for us! Everyone treated us as if we had donated a million dollars!

Getting ready for the broadcast.

It was really fun to go behind the scenes to see what goes into a news broadcast.

During the broadcast.  Vincent and Evelyn did such a great job on the air!

The HHS graphics teacher made us this large check to present to KSL.  It was a big hit. (We gave them a real one, too!)

Posing with Deanie Wimmer!  She was so nice and very genuine.  I was quite impressed with how much time she took with us in the middle of a live broadcast!  KSL is definitely a class act!

I am so proud of my SBOs for all of their hard work in making Quarters for Christmas such a success this year!  You can go here to find out more about KSL's Quarters for Christmas program.

Christmas 2014

Christmas this year was absolutely wonderful!

On Christmas Eve we have the tradition of opening one present and everyone gets Christmas jammies!  Here is the traditional photo of Sean and Tashena in front of the Christmas tree! I spent the night at my parents' house, much to the delight of Sean who wanted to watch the movie Elf.  He had it set up in the DVD player all day.  He also woke me up early Christmas morning to show me the letter Santa left for him!

Christmas morning!

Santa Claus left us lots of presents!

We draw names for stockings and I drew Tashena.  I got her the coveted Nike basketball socks, an iPod case, some headphones, and a gift card to Claire's.  Ironically, Tashena drew my name and gave me socks, several bags of my favorite candy cane kisses, brushes, some Burt's Bees lip balm (my favorite), and some storage boxes.

Tashena opening her presents.  This year she got a lot of clothes and jewelry!

Her big present was a TV.  She was very excited!

It is so fun to watch Sean open presents because he is so excited!  He got some Wii games, action figures, clothes, and a remote-controlled helicopter (which he played with all day)!

Sean's big present was an iPod (just like the one Tashena got for her birthday but in Hulk green instead of purple).

My favorite present was a pair of Dr. Martens boots.  I got a black pair last year and now I have a brown pair!  I love these boots because they last forever!  I also got some levis and sweaters, some DVDs, some new snow pants (I can't wait to go snowshoeing), and a Colorado Avalanche phone case!

Marilyn made Sean and Tashena rag quilts!  They turned out so cute and they were a big hit!

This is the aftermath!  It was such a good day.  I am so glad that my family is close and that we can spend holidays together.  I am so glad that Sean and Tashena are in our family because they make every holiday so much better.  I hope you had a wonderful day filled with family and friends!

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for a pair of tickets to see the Utah Symphony New Year's Eve weekend.