Holiday in Blue

We had a very musical weekend- and not just because we listened to Singing Penguin 500 times. On Saturday I took the girls to a hand bell choir concert at the library- I know, aren't you supposed to be quiet at the library? But one of the librarians was performing with her church group so I guess that made it okay. Abbey enjoyed it and impressed me with her observations about the bells- like how the bells got larger in size and how they silenced them by putting them down. She sat still and watched the whole 30 minute show, which was great because it freed me up to chase Elliott all around the children's book area. Our local library isn't in the greatest neighborhood but I love that they have events like that for the community.
Sunday afternoon was Holiday in Blue- the Air Force band's holiday concert. It is a big event, and open to the public. It was held in a large auditorium at a local university, and it was packed! All I knew about this concert was that Chad was going to be playing the bodhran, an Irish drum that was brand new to him, so I was interested to see the concert. My mom and stepdad, Les, were able to come down too- it had been a long time since they had seen Chad perform.

Abbey and Nana before the show. This was the first of many snacks.

A rare sighting of Elliott actually sitting in her chair.

View from the nosebleed seats- we didn't realize how crowded it would be!

During this piece, the screen showed pictures of how our deployed troops celebrate the holidays. Here's Santa Claus parachuting in!

Chad plays the bodhran during A Celtic Carol. I was so proud of him!

(And thanks Les for these great close-up pictures.)

Chad in his element- behind the drumset.

We enjoyed the concert- the band sounded great, there was a wide variety of music (in keeping with the theme of Joy to the WORLD), and even from our high seats we could see Chad playing just about everything in the percussion area. But it was so LONG! Two hours, not including intermission! I was very proud of Abbey- she asked a lot of questions, but was mostly quiet and happy to be with her Nana. Elliott, on the other hand, was extremely overtired and wanted to be with Daddy, not watching him. Thank goodness for snacks: between the two of them they consumed a granola bar, a small bag of Cheerios, an ENTIRE bag of Goldfish, a candy cane, and a bottle of water. (And a partridge in a pear tree...) Les took Elliott to the lobby for a while, which was a nice break, but by the end of the show, nobody but Mama would do, and it was like having a sack full of cats in my lap- complete with strange noises and scratches. Fortunately the last two numbers were pretty loud.

Here is a short video- you can hear the band come back in after a drum break in A Celtic Carol. Unfortunately it's after Chad's bodhran performance (that video didn't turn out). But maybe you can see why I'm so proud of Chad, and still kind of can't believe that's really his job. :0)