Saturday, December 10, 2011

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch!

Of all the Christmas festivities we have on the December calendar, this is one of my favorites! I'll admit, I had mixed feelings when the dance studio did away with the December recital last year (one less thing to go to, right?!) But, I and the girls were excited to have it reinstated this year.
Dear ole' Santa sat on the stage and read to us the traditional tale of mean Mr. Grinch and all the sweet little people in Who-ville. Cutie-pie Fynn (with her equally cute friends, Hannah and Portia) was a darling who-girl. Tash got to be one also, as well as a snowflake. We loved seeing all the crazy hairstyles moms came up with and Fynn was in love with her tree costume. And, as always, it makes my heart go pitter-pat to see my girls dance on stage. I was grinning from ear-to-ear when they were done. The evening ended with Santa posing for family pics and we celebrated the girls' fab performances with a trip to Orange Leaf for some yogurt with all our friends.
The sweeties waiting to hit the stage

Cast curtain call



Hark! How the Bells, Sweet Silver Bells...

I was so proud of Natasha when she auditioned for, and was accepted to, the AF Singers (and as a new 8th-grader!) She has a beautiful voice and I was excited for her to learn how to sing harmony in difficult musical pieces. We got the neat opportunity to go to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in SLC and hear her perform her Christmas music with her choir. The acoustics in the building were incredible and the group of kids sounded so fantastic. I especially loved their rendition of "Carol of the Bells" and "Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel"--absolutely gorgeous! Lots of people came into the building and just sat to hear them sing!
I am so happy she gets to have the same experience with choir that I treasured when I was her age. We both love to sing and I am grateful for a choir teacher that is exposing her to such unique and lovely music. I hope she will continue her love for singing with choirs and always want to hone that talent the Lord has blessed her with. Love you, sweetie!


Getting lined up




People coming in to hear the choir

Grammy Su also came to hear Natasha

Natasha with her bestie, Kaiti Guiver