Christmas Program

I serve as the choir director in our ward, which means I was in charge of putting together the Christmas Program for sacrament meeting. The program was today and it turned out WONDERFULLY! There were only a couple of little hiccups, like when I almost clocked our narrator and one of the councilors in the bishopric with a music stand that has a mind of its own. We ended right on time and the choir sounded great.

I am so grateful to all the people who were so dedicated and attended the rehearsals. Having a lot of 'regulars' was so helpful. It made it possible for us to make a lot of progress quickly and do music other ward choirs might not even attempt. I am also very grateful for our accompanist, Tanya Call, and all the hours she put in. She even let us practice at her house, since there was no time available to practice at the church! We couldn't have done it without her!

And I'm especially glad that I was there for the program. That seems like a funny thing to be grateful for, Jillian. I mean, you're the director, so of course you were there, right?! Well, let me tell you a horribly embarrassing tale. Some of you may remember this. I know it is vividly imprinted upon my mind, there to remain forever.

A few years ago I was the choir director in our BYU married student ward. I was, of course, in charge of the Christmas program. Scott had to get some dental work done or something and went to his parents' house for Christmas early, while I stayed back in Utah for school choir performances and the Christmas program. The night before I was feeling sick, like my nose was getting stuffed up and I had a sinus headache, so I took some Benadryl to knock it out so I would be in tip-top shape the next morning.

The next morning I woke up, and to my horror saw that the alarm clock read 8:30 am, half an hour after our ward started!! I jumped out of bed in a panic and raced to get some clothes on. Not only was I very late, but I had all the music and parts people were supposed to read with me at my house! If ever there was a time to hyper-ventilate, it was now.

Then, to make matters worse, I couldn't for the life of me find my car keys. We were living in my parents' basement apartment, so I ran upstairs, freaking out, and my Mom says, "Jillian, what's wrong?!"

"I.slept.in.and.I'm.late.and.I.have.all.the.music.and.I.can't.
find. my.car.keys.I'm.going.to.die!"

"Okay, take a deeep breath. It's going to be ok. Here are my car keys. Calm down. It's alright. Relax. Breathe!"

I got to the church in time for, I think, two songs. Since they didn't have any of the reading parts or music, they just sang the songs we had practiced out of the hymn book, and filled in between the songs with improvised talks by the members of the bishopric. I was, and am still to this day, horrified.

When I was called as the choir director in our new ward, that Christmas program years ago flashed across my mind. My first thought was, 'Thank goodness our ward starts at 2:00!'