Catching Up With Christmas Pt. 2: Pianos and Gingerbread Houses

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope all my readers had a safe yet rockin' party to ring in the new, not-anticipated-by-the-Mayans 2013. Now excuse me while I get back to blogging about 2012...I'll catch up eventually!

The first full weekend of December was probably the busiest weekend for me personally of the whole month. I had my Christmas piano recital for all my students on Friday, December 7th, and then our ward Christmas party was the following night. The business obviously continued into the next week (December, after all!), but that's fodder for another blog post.

First, the piano recital. This fall, I ended up with nine students (if you count Lorelai). Needless to say, it has kept me pretty busy. However, I really love all the kids, and the majority of them are hardworking and enthusiastic students. Unlike my last two recitals, I wasn't able to use the church building...probably because the building was just barely dedicated and its terms of use were still being sussed out at the time I needed to schedule the recital. Fortunately, I have a very kind generous bishop (and bishop's wife) leading our LDS ward; they agreed to let us all "crash" their house for the recital.

Luckily, the bishop's house was quite roomy and very attractively decorated. Thank goodness a few of my students are siblings, so not as many families were trying to squeeze themselves into the house! As it was, a few people ended up sitting on the stairs, but everyone took it in good humor.

All the students did very well...some of them are natural performers. The highlight for me was Lorelai's performance debut; she played a simple version of Beethoven's "Ode To Joy," and also a simple song from her method book. She sometimes gets shy in front of large crowds, but she was a champ this time.

Afterwards, it was time for some photo-ops with my students:

Me with Hayley

Hannah & Paloma's "normal" appearance...

Hannah & Paloma in "recital" mode

Hyrum & Michael...cute brothers and both good piano players

Everyone brought a treat to share, and a nice time was had by all.

Sadly, this recital marked the "end of the line" for two of my students: Hayley, my longest-tenured student (I've taught her for two and a half years now), is moving to Pennsylvania in February, so decided to call it quits. Just a week or two after the recital, Hannah decided to "take a break" from piano as well...she wants to try out a few other extracurricular activities. "Taking a break," for a lot of kids, means "calling it quits," and I was pretty sad to hear the news...Hannah was one of my more dedicated, dependable students, and it was a lot of fun working with her. I admit to shedding a few tears over Hayley and Hannah's departures; I become very attached to all my students.

I use my humor to mask my motherly pride in my little girl

On a larger scale, I sometimes worry that too few kids these days are learning piano. I realize that not every kid is made to be a musician, but I also wonder if some potential musicians are being distracted by all the extra "stuff" that's out there for kids to try out (sports, after-school clubs, etc.). I see fewer and fewer kids getting really proficient in piano...and, by consequence, I see church congregations a decade or two from now who legitimately struggle to find anyone who can play the hymns for their meetings. I sincerely hope I'm overreacting, but as a lover of music, I hope and pray that today's kids will make time in their overstuffed lives to learn a musical instrument. It gives them a joy (and a valuable skill) that will enrich their lives and the lives of those around them.

Enough moping! On a lighter note, our family attended our ward's Christmas party the following night. It was the first large activity held in our new stake center, and it amazed me how full the building was. I thought there would be tons of extra room, but the entire cultural hall (a regulation-sized basketball court) was covered with tables and big families. Probably because it was the Christmas party, which always offers you a yummy ham dinner!

Mmmmmmm.....ham!

We also got entertainment with our meal; the band from our charter school (Great Expectations Academy) serenaded us as we ate. Shortly after the meal, several of the primary kids did a nativity scene on the stage. Lorelai enjoyed picking out her friends in the cast, and the rest of us enjoyed the kids stumbling around in various costumes, trying to look like they knew what they were doing. The shepherds had a "flock" of exactly one sheep, plus a couple of dogs...but darned if they weren't adorable.

The "main event" of the night was a gingerbread house-building contest. Sigh. I warn you, some of the pictures coming up won't be pretty. Each table was equipped with piles of graham crackers, jars of icing, and many bowls of candy for decoration. But what did it all matter? I am a complete numbskull when it comes to edible architecture.

Yes, that hideous lean-to is my creation. At least the kids had a lot of fun building and decorating (and licking) their own houses...with some help from Daddy, of course...

It was Lorelai's idea to wear the Santa hat to the party

We got a little help from our friend Gavin, who is thankfully an engineer, and should thus know more than us about what makes houses stand upright

All our gingerbread houses. Mine is definitely the worst

But here's the competition we were up against...

Yikes. This was built by a good friend of ours, and we were very happy that they won the main prize, but man...talk about feeling inadequate!! Oh well, at least we got a free family Christmas portrait as a gift at the end of the party...

This is actually one of our nicer recent family portraits. Everyone is smiling! And why not? Christmas was on its way!