Cold winter's nights

I was actually pretty busy with work this week, and on Tuesday I even suggested that we work from home so we would have two extra hours where we weren't commuting. I think that was a wise decision, because it really is a waste of time being in a car two hours every day, but I do get a little restless working from home. In the office, I have regularly scheduled breaks where I go walk on the trails or roads. When I'm at home, I do other things on my breaks, like putting my laundry away. It drives me crazy when I'm sitting all day.

Wednesday was all snowy, but inexplicably we still had to go into the office, even though it was snowier than the snow day we had a few weeks ago. Whoever has the job to declare snow days wasn't doing their job.

But I wore my boots and was able to create the first footprints on the trails. (I didn't really try to run in the snow this week; just walked.)

 On Thursday evening, I had an idea that it would be fun to go on a nighttime hike on the Wild Rose Trail in order to look at all the Christmas lights on the houses below me. I'm glad I did it, because now I know that it's not really that cool. Mostly I was just freaked out, there in the dark in the snow by myself. I whistled Christmas songs the whole time to ease my apprehension.

This was Park City on Friday. I'm ho-ho-hoping we get more snow before Christmas so it doesn't all melt away.

 This week I wanted to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. I didn't go last year, but I went in 2016, 2015, and the overflow in the Tabernacle in 2014. My mom was sick, and my dad doesn't really like leaving the house, so I went with my sister and my niece, my concert buddies for Katy Perry and Lady Gaga last year. We were content just to watch the broadcast in the Tabernacle, instead of being in the Conference Center itself, so we didn't care that we were so far back in the queue for standby tickets.

Well, we were sitting there, the three of us, when a woman came up and asked if we wanted to go into the Conference Center--she had three extra tickets, and she just gave them to us! If my mom had come, I doubt she would have given us tickets (because then there would have been four of us), so thanks for being sick, Mom! The exchange was a little awkward, and my brain keeps replaying my inappropriate reaction. But I was just so surprised--of all the people in the Tabernacle, that woman decided to offer her tickets to us!

But our awkward interaction was not as awkward as the woman who gave the opening prayer. I thought she went on too long. But at the end, she said, "In the name of Thy Son, our Brother, Amen. Jesus." But after she said "Amen," everyone said "Amen" and opened their eyes, so her "Jesus" was too late.

This year's guest, Kristin Chenoweth, was the most down-to-earth of the guests they have had. No wonder she was Glinda in Wicked! I know some of that is a PR persona, but there were some apparently unscripted moments that illustrated it. For example, at one point she said, "As I have gotten older, Christmas become more about Santa Claus and getting presents. I mean, it's become less about Santa Claus and getting presents. Oops! Did they get that on film?"

From our seats, it was a little hard to see what was going on, because we were on the sides. But we were close enough to actually see the people. The décor all had a gift theme, and there were giant presents with screens that would change according to the song. (There was an unfortunate abundance of eight-point snowflakes, which are even worse than North Pole penguins. NVM, I take that back, but they're still pretty bad.)

They sang "The Twelve Days of Christmas" and had the audience sing along with "five gold rings" and "a partridge in a pear tree." That arrangement was the one they used with the King's Singers back in 2007. Ten years ago, I listened to the King's Singers/MoTab collaboration all the time while driving around Davenport, WA, so it was fun to feel connected to that familiar arrangement.

The choir sang "Somewhere in My Memory," which evoked memories of singing that song in my second grade Christmas program. I find it strange that such a sentimental, beautiful song comes from a cheesy slapstick movie that I haven't even seen since elementary school. Artificial snow fell from the ceiling during the song.

Normally they have the guest artist read verses from Luke 2. This time, they just showed videos of kids reading it. I don't mean to sound like a curmudgeon, but it was awful. Kids stumbling over Christmas scriptures at home is cute. Kids you don't know stumbling over scriptures on a prerecorded video in front of twenty thousand people is just dumb. I sure hope they don't do that again. It just went on and on and on. I was glad when that part was over!

Overall, I thought it was a relatively mid-quality performance. I say "relatively" because all their Christmas concerts are very well done and spectacular. Kristin Chenoweth is definitely more enjoyable than the opera singers they've had. But I thought the show relied more on her persona than on any show-stopping musical number. Richard Elliott's organ solo wasn't as epic as it was in other concerts.

Now, here's hoping next year's guest is Stefani Germanotta. 😉