I Saw Mommy Kissin' Santa Claus

For her final Music Express performance for the year, the group once again headed to the Wilkinson Center at BYU for the President's Christmas party for all the Y employees. This year she had more "solo" opportunities than ever before and was one of the few that actually held onto the mic. She did a great job--as always.

Ellie's performance at the school-wide talent show

Ellie and her group were selected to perform in front of the school as part of Art Week. The performance was essentially the same, but here a couple of photographs. They aren't fantastic because I was still taping it (just in case).

December 6: Will This Day Ever End?

Sing along with me (to the tune of Billy Joel's Piano Man). "It's 6 o'clock on a Saturday. The regular alarm buzzes loud." No one likes the alarm going off early on a Saturday. But it's the last of Ellie's Music Express performances and the whole family is going.

So the President of BYU is hosting the President's Christmas Party for all BYU employees and their families and Music Express is one of the performing acts. We had no idea this is what was going on, so we were fortunate enough to have left with enough time that we could find parking and get front row seats in the Wilkinson Center Ballroom. John took some time to practice his photography skills and I tried to get in a few minutes of reading.

After sitting for about a half hour, there were some performances from the Nutcracker ("the most boring thing EVER" as Griffin says) and then a few minutes before Ellie's group came on.

She did an excellent job. After trial and error in a ton of different activities, she finally found something she enjoys doing and, not surprisingly, is good at.

After Ellie's performance, we returned home for a short time before Ellie had to go to the ward Christmas party rehearsal which was almost two hours long. A short time after she finished, I had to head to the Seven Peaks Ice Arena in Provo for the annual RMMG client party. Usually it's a nice evening with Santa, but this year, they decided to do Skating with Santa (even though our Santa doesn't ice skate). So with 600 clients in attendance and another "office" party on the neighboring rink, the line for skates went all the way through the building. If you hadn't gotten there within the first 30 minutes of the party, you probably didn't get your skates or on the ice. It's at these moments that I'm grateful I'm just a peon and not really in charge. Anyway, here are some photos (well, it won't let me put any in for some reason).

I got home around 5:45 even though they extended the party until 6 instead of 5:30 because I had left my coat at home and it was cold in there!

After a short rest, Maggie, Ellie and I took off for the Scera to see the musical "Plaid Tidings" with my friend and her family. (She volunteers there so she gets free tickets.) She had noticed that my life was crazily-hectic and that I just wasn't getting into the holiday spirit and was sure this was just what I needed. It was fantastic! In fact, we enjoyed it so much that she was able to get us more free tickets for the following Monday performance where we went as a family. This time, we were on the front row and were more interactive with the production. They asked Griffin what year it was (and he didn't freak out but answered, "Uh, 2008!" and then they grabbed Maggie to be part of the conga line and one of the characters kept hugging her. It certainly lifted our spirits.

We got home around 10 that night and I collapsed into bed.

Music Express (December 2)

In October, Ellie joined a singing group called "Music Express." They perform three times a year: December, May, and August. So this was a whirlwind week with all three performances. Here she is in her outfit. Unfortunately, none of us were able to attend this first performance at the Cove Point senior center.