Christmas Events

This year I have officially made it to all of the girls Christmas programs. Last year was the first time ever that I missed not one but all of the girls' events for the holidays. Up until that point I had successfully made it to every event and program that both girls had ever had. Which I am quite proud of.


This year both Jasmine and Kiliegh were angels in our church program yesterday. Jasmine had a several lines of her very own and she did a very nice job. Kiliegh sung songs with the other angels and looked beautiful doing so!


On a side note, I have been going to our church for over four years now and I still am uncomfortable using a camera during any program. Now that I have my Cannon I am even more hesitant on using it because you can her the shutter (which I personally love the sound of). So I didn't get the best of pictures from the church program.

Jasmine also had a leading roll as a narrator in her program for school. She announced other grades and what they were going to be singing. I was very impressed with her confidence and with her ability to enunciate. She talks so incredibly fast here at home that it becomes difficult to understand what she is saying. She had no issues with that today. She spoke clearly and she sang beautifully! It was hard to get a good picture of her with a smile on her face however.

Afterward when I picked her up from school she confessed to being terribly nervous. Poor girl, if she only knew how great she was doing, when she was up there.

This year was Jasmines forth year of chorus. The group sang separate from their grades after all of the grades had their turns. My favorite song was The Carol of the Bells. Its such a beautiful song and every time I hear it I get goose fleshed. They did a nice job at singing it especially considering that they are fifth graders. I personally think its a hard one.

I arrived to Jasmine's program thirty-five minutes early and I still had to stand in the back. While I have fantastic zoom on my camera (because I have multiple lenses) my flash does not do the job for lighting situations in auditoriums. I knew of a few of my Christmas gifts that Justin got for me this year..., one being a flash for my camera. However, I was running behind and didn't have the time to get it before I went to Jasmine's program so it was harder to get nicely balanced pictures. I did pick up the flash on my short break in between programs and I was able to use it during Kiliegh's program. It was the first time that I have used this new flash and I was thrilled at the difference it made. It was so exciting and the difference was undeniably evident.

Kiliegh did a very nice job during her Christmas program as well. This year she joined her schools chorus. It was her first year and while she seemed to really like going to practice she could never tell us what she had learned. It was always "I don't remember". So I was sure that I would be sitting there watching her "pretend" to sing the songs.

She surprised me. She stood up on the stage and sang! She stood tall and she had a smile on her face and a look of confidence that I don't see coming from her too often. (Kiliegh is a bit reserved and she can come off as very shy.)

Today I left the house at 9 AM to go to Jasmines school and then came back home to nurse Vada at 11:30 AM only to leave again twenty minutes later to run to Kiliegh's school. Kiliegh's program lasted from 1 PM until the school released at 2:40 PM. It was soooo long! But I was there and I had front row seats at hers so I was grateful! After Kiliegh's program and release we had to drive back down to Jasmine's school to pick her up. It was such a long and busy day. I am glad that it only happens once a year!