Christmas concert

Yes!!!  We are finally done!  It is a huge relief to be done with this year's Christmas concert at church.  It is a really stressful time for Ehren who is running the sound for everyone, from little toddlers to adult choir with solos and millions of instruments.  It is kind of sad that he doesn't get acknowledged for his work at all, all those practices he has to be there for, all those complaints from singers/musicians he has to fix and work on.  He does it gladly though because he is good at it and likes it, but at the same time it is very stressful and we all feel it at home :) and I know it would make him feel so good if he got thanked for it as much as they thank places that let us use some of their lights. :)

I can't really compare my little stress with his but to me it is a big deal to get our little 4-6 year olds ready for their Christmas program.  The last 3 Sunday school hours we worked on our video which turned out really cute.  The kids were acting out the story of Christmas.  I had an idea in my head I wanted to portray but pretty soon realized we had to simplify it because we can only do so much in one hour that we have with those kids.

But the main thing was to teach the kids a new song that they've never heard before and even though it is an easy song, with just a few Sundays of practicing that doesn't give us much time so I was very nervous about it.  Plus, we not only had to do our little program one night, we had to bring the kids there 2 nights in a row because that is what the leadership decided.  None of us moms and teachers were happy about this but who listens to us?  Well, since it was too late in the game to do anything about it we had to suck it up but I am getting ready to write a letter to change it for next year.  When something doesn't make sense and other people feel the same way I do you can count on me for being the voice of change. :)

But, I have to say all the kids did so well considering everything, being tired and nervous.  Anika was singing the loudest, she was so cute and I was so proud because not that long ago she started crying during her school program.  All the kids were really cute and I just loved the song I stumbled upon and the meaning behind it.  Kids especially are so focused on gifts at Christmas time so I thought it is just really fitting to sing about a gift to God.  What would God want for a present when He has everything already?  The answer is us, each and every one of us, living for Him is the best gift we can give to God.  And so our little kids wore a big present around their body to show that they are a gift to God and sang "I'll give God me this Christmas".  That song just makes me smile every time.  Of course, I couldn't find sheet music for it anywhere but thank goodness Audrey (Ehren's mom) is such a good pianist she could just pick it up by listening to it a few times on you tube.  She is so good at it and when we mess up she just brings the song back to where we are with our singing so it worked wonderfully.  We did mess up the first night because the kids got confused with one line and they were a bit scared and not watching me but the second time they did great.  So I'm just really proud of them and it feels like all those stressful Sundays when they would all rather be playing than singing are worth it.  I like coming up with different things for them to do for a program because when Kade was little the kids sang the same exact songs year after year and that gets a bit boring.

It is heart breaking to know that 20 kids about the same age as the kids in our Sunday School won't be home for Christmas next week.  Yet, I just realized as I was thinking about our kids' song that those little children get the best present this Christmas - being in God's presence and in the best imaginable place they could be.  God gets to hold them, comfort them, take care of them and they get to be worry free and pain free.  God doesn't want these ugly things of this world to make us fearful and worried because He's all we need and no death nor anything can separate us from Him.  So I will put my Hope in Him and pray that our kids can grow strong in their faith and keep their eyes on Jesus.  

Below are a couple videos of the Christmas program.  The big kids did some great songs too and since it takes so long to upload it to you tube I'll only post one of those.


Christmas Story:


Kason and Anika's SS class:





Kade's SS program - last song: