Christmas singing

It doesn't truly seem like Christmas if I'm not singing in some performance or another. I must admit, it was strange (and a little bit sad) to not be singing in the Sally Bytheway Chorale Christmas concerts. There is something rather wonderful about a really big (and really good) choir singing Christmas songs. But though I was not singing with them, I surely did enjoy their concert from the audience! (I'll be back for spring season...yay!)

This year, I found myself doing my holiday singing with Higher Ground. Because the season is so busy, we tried to keep our performance schedule somewhat simple. We sang in a Sacrament Meeting here, a musical number for a Bishop's Storehouse fireside there. Our two big ones where we were able to share our whole program, were at Temple Square and for a Relief Society in Taylorsville...the ward I grew up in, actually. My mother, who was the Relief Society President at the time, booked our group to come sing for their Christmas party way back in March. When my parents decided to move last summer, I asked my mom about the program. "Oh, I'm sure we'll still be around at Christmastime. Houses take a long time to sale, don't they?" Not theirs. It sold the day after they put it on the market. So I worked the details with the new Relief Society president...not a problem in the slightest seeing as I had known this woman since I was very little. If I'm remembering correctly, I think she was even one of my young women leaders when I was a teenager. And though it's been over 20 years since I officially moved out of the ward (obviously I've come back for visits and been kept up to date on all the ward news by my parents as time has passed) I was surprised at how many familiar faces I recognized, and how well they still remembered me.

Our program wrapped around Mary, the mother of Christ. I especially liked this quote by Bruce R. McConkie that I had the opportunity to share in the program...
"Can we speak to highly of her whom the Lord has blessed above all women? There is only one Christ, and there is only one Mary."

The Joseph Smith Memorial Building on Temple Square. Such an amazingly beautiful place to sing! We also sang at the Church History Library.