Recap . . . one week ago.

Dec. 9, the student choir gave their first Christmas concert and then another one Sunday, the 11th. I am posting some photos I just received taken by George, Tawfic's teenage son who also played in the Drum and Bagpipe band. His scout bagpipe band was part of the pre-concert event and lighting of the BYU Jerusalem Center.

Photo: Everyone gathered in excitement prior to the count down and lighting of the Jerusalem Center.

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love! ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

Christmas is not just a time for festivity and merry making. It is more than that. It is a time for the contemplation of eternal things. The Christmas spirit is a spirit of giving and forgiving. ~ J. C. Penney

Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you. ~ Steve Maraboli

Mankind is a great, an immense family. This is proved by what we feel in our hearts at Christmas. ~ Pope John XXIII

Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Christmas is forever, not for just one day, for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. The good you do for others is good you do yourself. ~ Norman Wesley Brooks

Good news from heaven the angels bring, glad tidings to the earth they sing: to us this day a child is given, to crown us with the joy of heaven. ~ Martin Luther Photo: Because we had a completely full house, the students sat on the risers during novelty numbers.

Photo: Mixed barbershop. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself. ~ Francis C. Farley

Photo: Aimee did a wonderful job playing a flute part on two of our songs.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old, familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth, good-will to men! ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Photo: The guys weren't afraid to ham it up on stage and the audience loved them.

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~ Janice Maeditere

Until one feels the spirit of Christmas, there is no Christmas.

Photo: Katie was a student conductor while I accompanied on the piano. I love to give students the opportunity to learn but they can't grow unless they step into the shoes as conductor.

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world -- stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love? Then you can keep Christmas. ~ Henry Van Dyke

Norman Vincent Peale: Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.