Christmas Recital. . . at Our House

I was browsing through the holiday pictures when I realized that I hadn't posted anything on the Christmas recital that we had at our house.  Matt has two cute little girl students that he teaches, and their mom thought it would be a great idea to have them perform in front of a group.  I agreed.  The pressure my kids have felt over the years of having to perform has really helped them learn to polish their pieces.  So, we had a very small but fun recital here just before the holidays.  It was intimate and relaxed and fairly low-key.  I wish all recitals were like that.


Matt's students came through with flying colors.  It was awesome to see them perform so successfully.  It was also fun to see their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents bursting their buttons.



Adam had a basketball game the night of his own recital, and he happily agreed to play here instead of missing a basketball game.  Can you believe that?  He played great.


Matt played an individual piece, and he and Mike also entertained us with "Sleigh Ride."  This is a tradition that started with Mike's family.  I have heard countless combinations of Mike's mom, him, his brothers, and his sisters play this piece, and since then each of our kids has played it with Mike.  It never fails to bring some excitement to the holidays.  You see, the Youngs prefer to play a LIVELY rendition.  A few days later, Matt's piano teacher and another older lady played it at Matt's recital, and it didn't even sound like the same piece.  It was very dainty and, well, restrained.  I much preferred the increased tempo and dynamics. 

Overall, it was a fun night and a great way to increase the holiday spirit.  What am I going to do when I don't have any children playing in holiday recitals?

Big Jud's

My wonderful daughter has already pretty much covered our Christmas activities in her blog, but I decided to throw in a few paragraphs and pix myself.  We decided we had to take Andrew to Big Jud's while he was here.  He didn't accept the challenge to try and make it to the Wall of Shame, but instead, we all enjoyed two large burgers, fries, and tater tots together. 


"Can you believe the size of this bad boy?"  Rachel is so good at making funny faces.



Adam was SO hungry by the time we got to the restaurant--we spent too much time painting--that I think he was thinking about trying to make it on to the Wall of Shame.  Sorry, kiddo, there's no way you could have done it.

How does one make it to the Wall of Shame?  By eating an entire burger (or a double) with all of the Idaho potato-sized fries that come with it BY YOURSELF.  If you're successful, then you get your picture posted on the wall.  Believe it or not, Mike tried to do it a few years ago and made it all the way to just eight fries left before he had a "reversal of fortune."  Hungry anyone?