Christmas Choir

When The Coach and I decided that I would stay home with the boys after I retired, I was pretty excited.  I can't tell you the number of parent teacher conferences I've missed, or the awards programs, special lunches and holiday programs I've missed over the years.  Shamefully, it's a pretty large number.  It definitely wasn't by choice though, and I always felt a deep pang of regret and guilt as each one went by that I missed.  But now, I get to go to everything, right?  Yippee!!!!

Be careful what you wish for!  

The choir at Crestview Middle School is really great.  The choir director is very passionate and his students are very blessed to have him.  As a result of all of their hard work, they are asked to perform at a number of different locations throughout the holidays.  They have performed at a Lion's Club luncheon, the retirement home, the country club, the elementary school (twice), their own school (twice), and the Dicken's Christmas event that is sponsored by local businesses.  These performances were in the morning, at lunch, in the evenings, and even on a Saturday.  And guess who got to attend every single performance?

Me.  Yes indeed.  I sat through more Christmas Choir concerts than I care to count.  And always with the baby and Jack in tow.  The baby was really indifferent, but Jack?  Jack was awesome until after maybe the third performance.  Then he was miserable.  

"I'm SO SICK of listening to Bubbie sing!"  Me too little buddy, haha!!

I was pretty apprehensive during the first concert.  Justice had been practicing for a solo in "White Christmas" and I was really nervous for him.  He sounded OK after he had practiced it nearly 1,000 times in the weeks leading up to Christmas, but I wasn't sure what would happen when he got up in front of all of those people.  I worried for nothing, because the boy really enjoys the spotlight and wasn't nervous in the slightest.  As a matter of fact, when we got there the choir director approached him and told him that the student that was supposed to close out the end of the song wasn't coming, and he needed Justice to sing the whole end of the song as well as his lines.  Justice shrugged his shoulders and said it was no problem.  After the director walked away I freaked out.  I asked him if he was OK with that and he said:

"Yeah, why?  It's no big deal I'll just sing his part too."

OK, I was sick for him.  I was worried enough about him singing any sort of solo, but to throw in a part he hadn't practiced was too much for me, even if he couldn't have cared less.

And hey let's talk about The Coach for a second.  He was so funny.  He hadn't ever been to a choir concert before, and he was a fish out of water.  He is the epitome of a typical blustery, loud, sports-oriented coach.  You know, the kind they make fun of in sitcom's.  He is the stereotype, 100% to the core.  He is in a whole new element with Justice's new affinity for singing and for the piano.  He is struggling trying to keep up, but he is an awesome Dad and he's doing a great job.  

Anyhow, I was nervous for absolutely no reason because Justice nailed his part of the song.  Especially the very last few verses, and he hadn't sung them before.  I wasn't going to videotape it because I promise you I thought it would be not-so-good and who wants to tape that?  But I ate my words and got most of the song on tape.  And yes, it's a horrible video.  I had the baby on my lap, and he was trying to eat the camera.  Close your eyes or you may suffer from motion sickness.

He got a standing ovation for his part, and I was super happy for him.  He had such a surprised and meek look on his face when everybody started clapping and cheering for him.  It was a pretty neat experience for him.  The Coach had tears in his eyes, and that was a very tender moment.  

His last concert was on a Saturday on our local town square.  Each year the shops on the square put on a "Dickens Christmas" weekend where all of the shopkeepers dress up as if they were back in that era and there is caroling and lots of other neat events.  

The afternoon before the concert on the square, the Choir Director handed out solo songs (not just a part, but the entire song) and told the students to learn their song by the next morning.  So he comes home from school that day with the background music of a horrific Justin Bieber song and proclaims to me that he must learn it by the next morning.  I remembered the month it took for him to get White Christmas down and I was worried.  I didn't think there would be any possible way he could memorize and sing a new song overnight.  But he did, and he did a decent job considering the amount of time he had to learn it in.  AND, he was the only student out of all of them that sang a solo at the Dickens Christmas program, because he was the only one that managed to learn the song overnight.  

Not bad for four hours of work.  

Anyhow, I was really glad when the last program was over.  I had the same songs running through my head for over a month and I was ready for a change.  He has already brought home new music for the Spring program so I guess I will just have that running through my head for the next few months!

American Idol material he is not, but he's doing just fine for a small-town country boy.  He is happy, and that makes me happy.  I have learned not to worry so much about how well he sings and not to expect perfection.  I am just focusing on how happy it makes him to get up there and sing and try his best and also how comfortable he is performing in front of hundreds of people.  

And something else good has come of this, and that's Jack's willingness to sing now.  He helped his Bubbie practice his Christmas songs and he sings loudly in the car these days.  That is a huge change from the Jack of the past, and it's certainly been a welcome change.