Our Christmas Season

Our Christmas Season

The Holidays this year were gladly celebrated by us through music.  Grandma spent many hours at two different churches teaching the "ends and outs" of organ performance to five of her piano students.    

At age 11, Rachel was the youngest of the group.  Her confidence was exceptional, as was her smile.

Jenna played with conviction.  This was her second year of organ instruction.  I enjoyed her selection of organ stops.

Grandma accompanied all of the kids during their church performances.  I like the way each student musically communicated with her.  

Erin played almost perfectly for her duet with Grandma.  This is her 2nd year playing for the church Christmas program.

Ben's performance was outstanding.  I noticed heads bobbing and smiles on the faces of the congregation, as they enjoyed "Joy to the World."  I like the way he inserted the chime stop into certain parts of the music.

Setting up the holiday decorations at our home was fun this year, as the grand-kids helped.  The following pics show some of the activity.

Erin

Jenna

Mike & Erin

Jenna & Matty

Grandma was in charge of handing out the tree ornaments etc.  Each person gladly hung the decorations in the proper places, making sure everything was perfect; after all "you better watch out, you better not cry," I'm sure, was echoing in their minds.

Rachel

Matty

Jenna

After Christmas, on Monday the 28th, Bev held her annual student recital at Riverton Music.  16 kids were present.  Erin had to stay home because of illness.

Grandma

I couldn't resist taking this hair shot of Jenna.  So far this year, she has had her hair in 3 different styles - the bun, soft curly locks, and straight.

Rachel played so well.  I don't know what to call her hair style.

Grandma and Matted played a fun duet that required a "Chinese fire drill" movement.

Matty

Grandma's 2015 students

A Superb Celebration!

The actual feasting took place in unnerving silence, but this phenomenon only lasted a few moments.

So, in relative silence we ate, each person savoring each spoonful of whatever. 

Julie was thrilled to finally be seated at the adult table, after all these years. 

Grandma showed us by example the art of finesse on this Thanksgiving Day.  Notice the calculated lift of the little finger.  Haha.   

Afterwards, most of us relapsed into quiet mode, while all the food settled in our tummies.  It seems like Jeff, Mike, and Greg used the floor for naps, and others watched the game on TV.  I was able to take the photo below before I eased off into la-la land. 

 

But wait, the feast was not over, for we had to have desert before we departed to our homes.  The ladies divided the leftovers into generous amounts, and soon we were on our way home.  Just out of Springville, I pulled the Camry off the road and into a school bus yard.  There I caught this glorious sunset on camera.  What a pleasing way to end a superb celebration! 

  

Family fun

Thanksgiving Day is a time for family fun, which almost always happens before dinner when anticipation of a great meal is running wild.  Three turkeys were brought in for the feast, each having it's own particular flavor.  One was a traditional roasted bird, and another was soaked overnight in brine, and the third was smoked.  Good aromas can make one smile almost as much as good humor, which was being cast about with ease. 

Greg must have told a "a good one," because the two girls are "in stitches."  

Erin, Julie & Greg

Rachel even got her "two bits" in.  Both she and Jenna had come with their hair in big curly locks. 

She wasn't the star of the show, but she came close to owning this honor.  Here she shows off her cooking skills, and guess what?  She is only 11.   

Erin gets a  whiff   of the stuffing.

Pre-eating snitching is allowed.

In a rare moment of solitude, Erin got some quality time on her cell phone. 

Superman had his eye on his turkey.  I think he wanted to make sure it would not fly away.

Just in case, he decided to poke it a little, just to make sure.

More snitching!  "Go ahead Jenna, but be sure to lick your fingers after you do your snitching!"

Everything looks so good.

In addition to all the good food that had been provided, Sherry and Jeff had arraigned for a program.  Grandma and I were asked to talk a bit about thanksgiving.  I started by giving a little test, after which I gave some scanty information on what the first thanksgiving may have been like.  I also informed everyone that I had received information from Family Search that we had an original Pilgrim in our family tree - John Alden, who courted and married Pricilla Mullins.

Grandma spoke about the spiritual meaning of Thanksgiving, indicating that we all needed to be grateful to the Lord in all things.

After we finished, Jeff led us in what has become a Thanksgiving Day tradition - that of singing a rousing rendition of the Trepak from the Nutcracker.   

Next blog, I will show some scenes of the actual feasting.

       

Thanksgiving Day!

Thanksgiving Day!  What a day it turned out to be!  Thanks to Erin's help the day before, I was able to easily complete my assignment of making the mashed potatoes.  Erin had come over and helped peel and slice the little fellows.  Grandma helped also, once her piano lessons were finished.  

We covered them with water and stored them on the deck for cooking and mashing in the morning.  Bev got up early and began cooking the turkey and pumpkin pie. 

We then loaded our goods and made our way to Springville, where Sam and his faithful dog Shadow greeted us as we pulled into the driveway.  Shadow, an Australian Sheep Dog, was particularly interested - obviously he could smell the turkey, ha-ha.  Honestly, when I opened the car door to get out, he wanted to smell every part of me, even my breath.  Sam pulled him away, and I was able to exit the car.  I moved quickly to open the trunk and gave the turkey to Sammy with instructions to take it into the house.  Shadow finally left me alone and followed Sammy and the bird to the front door, leaving me alone.

After greeting the boys in the great room, I made my way into the home teaching room (music room) only to find Sherry and Bev visiting.  I was not kicked out, so I sat down.  Soon Mike and his family arrived, so the following pics are of those who had presence in that particular room.  

Sherry

Katie

Matty

Jenna

Sherry

Mike

Julie

Rachel

Rachel & Julie

Erin

Now this concludes the events leading up to and including our Springville Thanksgiving Day arrival.  

Within the next few days I will continue with a brief description of the exciting program, and then in a third posting, I will end up with an account of the actual feasting.  So be sure to check back.

Something to do

This Friday we were looking for something to do, and we ended up risking our lives driving through the I-15 construction zone on the Point of the Mountain.  Nevertheless, we arrived safely in Provo, and the adventure was made enjoyable by Rachel, who suggested that we play 20 questions during our drive. 

We picked up Julie and made our way to the De Jong Concert Hall in the HFAC.  After dropping off Grandma Zucc at the front entrance, I found a great parking spot in the main parking lot. 

Rachel & Julie at the intermission


The occasion was a concert by the American Piano Quartet.  

Julie & myself

 I enjoyed Three Hungarian Dances by Brahms.  I remember playing number 5 on my violin as a teenager.  That was a long time ago, for sure; but I was pretty good, I think!  

Me & Rachel

Rachel's favorite piece was Petite Suite, composed by Debussy, and I know why.  She likes the smooth melodic structure of the whole tone scale.  Debussy also uses a lot of 9th chord structure, which produces a rich feeling to his music.

Me, Julie & Rachel

Julie said she liked them all - she is so diplomatic.  She ought to run for political office, because that is what politicians do - agree with everyone.

Grandma, Julie & Rachel

One thing for sure is that we all liked Hungarian Rhapsody no.2 by Franz Liszt.  The first half of the concerto is serious, but the last section is kind of a musicians "musical joke."  The dissonant runs make one wonder if the pianists have had a little to much cheer before the concert.  Ha.

                                                               

No matter what we thought, all was made well as we enjoyed some ice cream treats at Mickey D's.