My Best Christmas Gift

On Christmas afternoon, after all the gifts had been opened and the kids were happily playing with their loot, I called my parents to wish them Merry Christmas. As we were chatting, my mom happened to mention that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was coming to St. George for a concert in February.

Tangent . . . I married a groupie. But not the sort of groupie that I always thought I'd hook up with. When I was in high school, I had a bit of a rebellious streak. I loved heavy metal music, and I especially enjoyed dating "edgy" guys - the more tattoos, black leather & piercings, the better. There was just something so satisfying about seeing the look on my dad's face when I'd bring my date home. :-)

So you can imagine how thrilled - shocked, but thrilled - they were when I brought Nathan home. He had short hair, no piercings or tattoos, and he didn't ride a murdermotorcycle. And his greatest obsession, his favorite little "guilty pleasure" . . . the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I think my dad almost passed out when Nathan asked for his permission to marry me.

So, back to my Christmas story. While I was talking to my mom on Christmas afternoon, I told Nathan about the Choir coming to sing in St. George. Instantly, he was on-line and buying our plane tickets. At the same time, my mom was on-line buying our tickets to the concert. Within minutes it was done. And a wonderful Christmas suddenly turned into a WONDERFUL Christmas.

A few highlights from this weekend:

#1 - SUN! GLORIOUS, BLAZING, WARMING SUN! Now, I am NOT one of those people who are constantly complaining about the weather in the Pacific Northwest. I really am a "glass half full" sort of person, so I go out of my way to maintain a positive attitude about wherever I'm living. But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't totally and completely love a weekend in the sunny desert.

#2 - I have to admit, MoTab puts on a good show. I mean, it's no Monsters Of Rock, but I was thoroughly entertained. And the best part, of course, was watching my sweet husband listen in sheer delight. He was just disappointed that they weren't selling concert t-shirts. :-) (I told you he's a groupie!)

#3 - The biggest highlight, though, was just being with my family again, if only for a quick weekend. It may have taken me nearly 40 years, but I'm finally starting to lose a bit of my fierce independent streak, and I find myself really missing my parents & siblings. As I was sitting in the concert Saturday night, with my husband on my left and my dad on my right, I was almost in tears with how good it felt to be surrounded by the two men in my life who mean the most to me. I was also able to spend some great time with my mom as we both just stared and marveled at how perfect baby Torah is. And I loved hanging out with my little brother & sister. They are fun and talented and they have the greatest spouses. When I moved out of the house, they were only 11 & 6 years old. It's so great to get to know them better now that we're all adults.

So, sigh, it was a WONDERFUL weekend, and I am so thankful to Nathan for this spontaneous Christmas gift.