Merry Christmas, Mr. Powers!

I had the honor of attending the annual Tara High School Christmas concert last week to see Mr. Powers and his students in action. After our babysitter got to the house (thanks again, Amy!), I rushed like a crazy person across town through the cold, rainy night to get there on time, only to find that I first had to sit through the following -- the beginning, intermediate, and advanced orchestras, the hand bell choir, the show choir, the ladies ensemble choir, etc. -- in order to hear the band's performance.

I tried to remind myself that all these people were stuffed into an overheated and crowded auditorium full of screaming babies waiting patiently just to see their child perform, and settled in to enjoy the show. One of the ten choirs sang a slow, sort of wistful holiday tune called "Somewhere in My Memory" while their baby pictures flashed on the screen behind them. I'm telling you, I completely lost it and started bawling thinking about how one day WAY TOO SOON it will be us watching Lucy in a similar program with her baby picture smiling out at the audience. I chalked it up to the pregnancy hormones and tried to pull myself together since: (1) I was sitting in between two complete strangers, and (2) I remembered that my child is only 18 months old.

Once the band finally started playing, Andrew surprised me by joining in with his jazz band ensemble to play the guitar. They were so cute up there and you could tell that these boys thought they were way cool to be part of such a group. The band played classics like "The Christmas Song" (they sang the last line a capella) and "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer".

Side note ~ don't you just love the "teacher look" Mr. Powers is shooting them in this picture?

Then he took the stage and directed the entire Trojan band in some holiday tunes like "Silent Night" and "The Ultimate Christmas Sing-a-long" (a duet with the choir). I love to watch him conduct. :)

You can tell the kids really love and appreciate Andrew for all of his hard work, and despite the occasional grumblings to the contrary, I can tell that the feeling is mutual. Many of the parents and grandparents came up to the stage after the show to compliment him on his dedication and on the progress the kids have made this year. Great job, Mr. Powers! We are so very proud of you.