And Now It's Christmas

For a long time, my Christmas season officially started with Viewmont's Tabernacle concert the day after Thanksgiving. Since I was a dancer and definitely not a singer in high school, I was never in the choir seats, but there's nothing quite like standing in the middle of the Tabernacle while almost everyone in the building is singing the Hallelujah Chorus. Seriously spine-tingling. Ever since the brilliant minds at Temple Square decided that it was too dangerous to have so many people crowding the place when the lights officially turned on Friday night (I only got so squished I got claustrophobic once, thank you very much), I've been on a search for a replacement concert. I love Christmas music, and Christmas just doesn't seem like Christmas without a few concerts.

For the past couple of years, I've been lucky enough to get tickets to the Tabernacle Choir concert. This year I was lucky enough to have a friend who had a sister who couldn't use her tickets and was willing to share—thanks Becky and everyone else who got the tickets from Colorado to me before the show! Now, I'm not usually a great Tab Choir fan, but they definitely know how to do Christmas, and this year's concert was very enjoyable. Then on Saturday my mom and I went to Jon Schmidt's concert. It was also quite enjoyable, and for those who are interested (probably only Jonathan), it was even more enjoyable because there was no Bono wannabe during "Pachelbel Meets U2," thank goodness. Between the two concerts—and the lovely snow we got all weekend—I've decided that it can now officially be Christmas. Do I get to stop going to work now?

Then my family got an early Christmas present Saturday night. Joseph and his girlfriend, Marie, got engaged! Yes, finally! We all love Marie and are very excited that she gets to be an official part of our family now! (That was a lot of exclamation points in one short paragraph. See, I really am excited.)