Concert

Today the kids and I didn't do much. They wanted to go outside in the snow so badly today, but I wanted them to get over their cold a little bit more first. The antibiotics already seem to be working, so we will probably go sledding on Monday. Since they are no longer contagious, they can at least go to church tomorrow. I just wanted to keep them out of the cold for today. We watched a few movies, and the kids mostly just played around the house. I snow blowed and shoveled a little bit, but that was about it.

My Concert Review: Amazing
A friend invited me to The Christmas Concert on Temple Square. It was absolutely amazing. I have been wanting to go for a few years, but have never had tickets. All of the singing, bells, story telling, and orchestra was great. Brain Stokes Mitchell was incredible. I didn't realize, but he was the lead singing voice in "The Prince of Egypt" movie. Edward Hermann told the story leading up to Henry Longfellow writing the song, "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." I love that story and the example it is to all of us. I could hear it again and again. If you have never heard it I invite you to google it. You will never think the same way about that song ever again. Here is my review of the concert: It was amazing!

My Review of some of the people at the concert: Maybe not quite as amazing
First, just an observation. I was waiting for my friend and everyone was rushing into the Conference Center as fast as they could, to get their seats. This was a good 20 minutes before the concert was to start. I don't think I have ever seen so many LDS people hurrying to be on time to a church event in all my life. You would think it was 20 minutes after, not 20 minutes before. I think they should have a sign on all the churches that says "If you are not in your seat 10 minutes before the meeting, someone else will take your seat, and you will be consumed by fire." That ought to motivate people huh? Who am I to talk. No matter the time, preparation, etc., the kids and I seem to always be 3-7 minutes late...

So we were sitting in the balcony. There were two points in which the speakers above us must have quit working or something. For almost every song they worked perfectly, but for just two songs they seemed quiet. You could still hear Mitchell singing, and the words clearly, it just was not really loud. A couple of the people in front of us started getting all ticked off and annoyed. It was so funny to watch them. They were going all crazy and everything, when really if they would have just listened you could hear everything just fine (I did). I guess some people are not satisfied unless it is really loud. Maybe they should install a sub woofer underneath every seat, that would make them happy wouldn't it? Oh, wait I guess those might go down with the speakers, darn! The second time it happened was even better. Not only did the people in front of us carry on like Satan himself was belching right through them, but then when the speakers started working half way through the song, it caused them to go off even more. All of the sudden we were surrounded by all of these people carrying on. I was trying to listen to the performance and suddenly I was in this little bees nest of activity. Here is what I don't get. People want the speakers to work so that they can hear the music (okay I understand so far). When said speakers suddenly start working people apparently want to talk to drown them out. What is this a competition of who can be the loudest? The most ironic part that really had me laughing was that Mitchell was singing about being grateful and seeing our blessings, and not asking for more. Here these people are sitting in a performance that is amazingly hard to get tickets to every year, and they are grumbling about the speakers while the performer is singing a song about gratitude. Hilarious! I was actually laughing at the people around us (even though I tried not to). It sadly would not surprise me if someone was saying, "gosh, we pay our good hard earned money in tithing and we come here and the speakers don't even work right!" By the way Einstein, God was the one who blessed you with the money to pay your tithing (and everything else you have) in the first place.........just in case you didn't know. Despite all of this, the concert was great, it really didn't phase me, only caused me to laugh and to reflect. The spirit was so strong, and it was so great to welcome the celebration of our Savior's birth into our hearts once more.