We were getting the little camera ready for CJ to take on tour and found these pictures we hadn't downloaded yet. KC, Dave, Grandma and I went to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert on December 17th. David Archuleta and Michael York performed with the choir, and it will be made into the Christmas spectacular 2011 for PBS.
When the concert was first announced I knew I wanted to try and get tickets. I registered in the email lottery for four tickets (that was the limit). Even though I had registered for the lottery several times before, I was hoping more than ever to get tickets this time around. This was back in late October, early November and KC was still blind at the time. He said to me one day, "the only thing I want is to hear the choir sing in person". I promised him that if we got tickets, he would be the one to go. I remember feeling so sad that night, thinking to myself, "we've entered into dozens of these lotteries and never gotten tickets before." The papers had said there were over 1.5 million requests for only 80,000 seats. Long story short, four tickets arrived the next morning in the mail. It was a special moment for me, and I knew if nothing else great happened this year, KC would have the opportunity "HEAR" something great!
As time passed and thanksgiving came and went, KC's excitement grew in anticipation of hearing the choir. His hearing had become more developed than I ever imagined it could. A few weeks before the concert, KC's vision returned and one of the first things he said to me was, "now I'll be able to SEE and HEAR them!"
The day of the concert came. I had proudly told so many people that WE got tickets. I was offered lots of things in exchange for them, but there was no way I was giving them away. There was lots of controversy because some people were selling them on KSL for hundreds of dollars. I had heard on the news to go early and we adjusted our plans accordingly. We arrived in down town salt lake more than 2 hours before showtime and were shocked to find the parking lots almost full, and people everywhere. Our plans had been to stop and eat, but once we saw the crowds we made a quick stop at the convenience store and ate a few cheese sticks and crackers on our way up the hill. They weren't kidding when they said to come early. I later found out that they routinely over distribute tickets by 10%. Well, that 10% that showed up late (which wasn't really late at all) didn't get in. They were NOT happy people at all! There were hundreds of people waiting in standby lines, hoping to get in. Little did anybody know, even people with tickets wouldn't get into this concert.
We navigated our way through the security lines and into the conference center. Our tickets ended up being on the last section (as far stage right as you could go) up on the balcony. We settled in and Mom and I got up to go use the restroom. On our way back down, we spotted some dear friends whom we hadn't seen in quite some time. What a sweet miracle that they had received tickets for the same section as us. We first met Todd and Angela Anderson on our very first day in Chicago. We lived in the same apartment complex for the first few years. They were our first "family" we adopted there. It was so much fun to catch up before the concert began.
The music was pure, the dancer's delightful and Michael York and David Archuleta were each amazing! The night was a good as it gets. We can hardly wait for the PBS Christmas Special to air so we can experience it all again. One of my favorites was the Cat and Mouse song!
After the concert we decided to enjoy temple square instead of fighting traffic and crowds. We walked over to the temple grounds to see the lights and feel the wonderful bustle of Christmas all around us. I was thrilled when I realized that Dave had the little camera with him. Had I known earlier I would have taken pictures of us in the conference center.
There were many tender moments as KC saw things he wondered if he might never experience again. For me personally I kept noticing things I swear were never there before. Mom kept saying, that is there every year. Then I realized this may have been the first time I was there without the girls. It's amazing what you miss when you are counting 1,2,3.....1,2,3....1,2,3......where are they now.....1,2,3!
I really wanted to eat dinner at the Lion House. We crossed the block and were so disappointed to see that hundreds of people had the same idea. We finally settled on getting something to eat on the way home. Nothing looked good as we headed towards the freeway. Grandma finally suggested we stop at JCW's so that became the new plan. We laughed as we said, "on to plan D or was it E now?" As we headed south, the road conditions deteriorated. It took us almost an hour and a half to get to Thanksgiving point. We almost didn't make it there before they closed at midnight. We were glad to take a break from the icy roads, and we were starving! I had the best peppermint milkshake I've ever had, and the onion rings were awesome. We could have died from a heart attack, but we would have died happy!
The feelings of that night came flooding back tonight as I looked up the concert on YouTube. KC came into the study with a cute smile on his face, head cocked to the side and said, "what is that?" Both David and I said, "Can you remember?" Sure enough after a few measures of the song he started recalling events from that special night.
Don't you LOVE the big smile on his face! It says it all.
