Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert Weekend

Magical Time, Magical Night

 

 Every year Chris and I try to get tickets to two events, Antique's Road Show and The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. And every year we put in as many addresses we can think of  (usually our parents addresses, cause one entry per household). This year we put in our address, all parents and even Chuck and Meagans. And we won and not only did we win 4 tickets, we won 8 total. Mom and dad received 4 tickets and Chris and I received 4 tickets. So what are we going to do with all of these extra tickets? Rachel and Brandon won 4 tickets too, but on a different night. So we invited mom and dad and told them to invite someone they would like and we would invite Betty and Darwin. So we made a short weekend of it.

 

The performance was on Friday December 12th and we spent the afternoon making our way to SLC. We were slowed down because of a flat tire so we were not able to eat the kind of meal we wanted too but it was ok and we will always have the memory of us waiting an hour for Greek food that we didn't have time to eat.

 

The Christmas Concerts celebrity guests were the Muppets from Sesame Street and Santino Fontana. So as we got into the concert hall Mom and dad went to their seats with Ronda and Lance Garner (Ron's parents) and we went to ours with Darwin and Betty. I wondered how they would pull off having Muppets as a guest and how they would maneuver around the stage. It was magical and so well done. I can't believe the talent of all those involved. Darwin was so excited and almost child like. You could tell that it was something he had never done before and would never forget the experience. 

 

Following the concert we all headed back to the cars and strolled through the temple grounds and City Creek Mall. Along the way we stopped to take some pictures and because of the lighting, it was too dark to get any real good group shots. But we all had a wonderful time and it was so much fun to go on a quadruple date. As we got close to the hotel, we stopped for some ice cream shakes and just laughed and had a great time. It was so nice and a great experience for all. Rachel took care of Luke and he had a great time too.

 

 

The next day Mom and Dad had to go home to meet Mekelle (She and her two boys were flying in for the holidays), and Luke and I thought about going with them, but I got an uneasy feeling of a lot to do before the holiday's cause Rachel and her family were planning on coming up for Christmas and I even thought of just sending Lucas down so he could play with his little cousins. But that wasn't right either. Later we would find out that mom would need to be with grandma in her final moments on earth and mom would get sick herself with pneumonia. I was so grateful I listed to the promptings of the spirit. Though if I would have gone, I would have got to say good bye to Grandma, but knew that I had made the right decision.

 

After we said our goodbyes to my parents we headed to the Sandy Aquarium with Rachel and her little ones and Betty and Darwin. Lucas had a great time with the cousins and I had a great time spending so quality time with Rachel. The aquarium was big and nice but not too long.

 

One of my favorite memories was watching Lucas walk the rope bridge over from one side to the other and he did so well. He was scared at first but Aunt Rachie helped him a long and he couldn't wait to do it again. We had such a great time with everyone and even though the weekend was over before we could blink, it was what we all needed to kick off the holiday season.