Christmas Village

Callie has been singing with the Valley Elementary Choir this fall. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:45 am in the school gym is practice and she has been to nearly every one! They've been working on Christmas songs since the beginning, with the plan to perform at Ogden's Christmas Village. 

Well, on December 6th, the day finally arrived. We decided to kick off the evening with dinner at La Ferrovia on 25th Street. Mmmm . . . pasta! Then we walked over to the park to explore the displays and ride the train and wait for the performance to start. Finally it was time for Cal to meet up with her choir onstage. Luckily, we found a spot next to the only working propane heater in the amphitheater (it was SO cold and the heat felt SO nice!). Heather and Terrell and Grace and Cooper got there right before they started singing, so it was fun to share the concert with them, too. 

They performed one piece called Once Upon a Christmas, which was a big medley of Christmas songs interspersed with speaking parts. Cal had one of them! She was a little disappointed that the director decided to use the full track they had used to learn the song, with recorded voices singing and speaking that the kids had to sing and speak over, rather than the minus track that was just the music. It was a little awkward to listen to. But it all worked out. And I loved watching my girl sing and dance and SMILE the whole way through. She rocked it!

After she was done singing, we wandered through the village with Heather's family, riding the train at least a couple more times, visiting Santa, eating cookies and enjoying the lights. It was cold, but it was fun, and the crowds were much less than in our past years' visits. It was a delightful time!

I cannot resist the tortellini at La Ferrovia!

First train ride. They had the whole thing to themselves
and that driver put the pedal to the metal. They were flying!

She's ready to entertain!

Hard to see, but that's Cal at the mic saying her part.

I think those are my kiddos smiling through the snowmen.

The kids loved this one because of the little
elf dressed up like a creeper in the corner.

I loved this icy delicate tree!

Cal loved the turquoise lights.

Train ride number two: with cousins!

I'm so glad they made the trek to hang out with us!

Train ride number three: everyone in the same car!

A visit to Santa, too!Cal said
she was too old for that sort of thing.
Both Sam and Grace
said they wanted Nintendo Switches.