"Twas a grand night for singing . . . ."

For the past two months, the student choir has been rehearsing in preparation for two Christmas concerts in December. Our first concert was Friday, the 9th, and it was quite a spectacular event! Our assistant director at the Jerusalem Center is Christian (Tawfic)and he made sure that this was going to be one night that would never be forgotten! He was so excited as he was busy planning all kinds of surprises. This past week, there has been a crew of men working tirelessly to put up permanent lights on the arches of the JC and outlining the roof of the building. This has never been done before! The lights will remain lit until the first week in January.

No one had any idea the extent of the outside decorations until the day of the "tree lighting" event.

The Friday night concert was scheduled to start at 8 PM but the celebration outside started at 7 PM. When we walked outside, we were pleasantly surprised to see the large trees decorated with huge balls about 8" in size. Christmas music was playing on loudspeakers and crowds were gathering. You can just imagine the stir and excitement this caused. Our neighbor, a Catholic Priest who represents the Vatican in Jerusalem, has always referred to the Jerusalem Center as his "silent neighbors" but this night was quite the opposite.

Around 7:15, we could hear drums in the distance and suddenly a bagpipe band was approaching from the road near the center.

Everyone was excited. Right before 7:30 PM, Tawfic directed the crown in a count down and the lights were turned on. What an event as cheers were heard all around.

Trees and bushes were lit and immediately we had fireworks overhead!

There were dancing reindeer and the children were fascinated. The bagpipe band kept playing and marched directly into the JC, right down the hallway inside, into the auditorium and down the steps inside for the gathering audience.

And . . then they played on the stage.

By this time the auditorium was filling up and we were getting ready to start our program. We had a completely full house and it wasn't until afterwards I was able to get a couple of photos.

Santa came and was handing out chocolates to the children and posing for photos. Photo: Neomi and a really skinny Santa.

The chefs set up tables with refreshments for everyone after the concert also.

There were so many people in the hall after the concert we were literally "elbow-to-elbow" so I couldn't adequately get photos. It was an "ALL OUT" occasion and the first time in the history of the Jerusalem Center for Christmas for an event like this.

Photo: This photo was taken after the concert. The students did a wonderful job and all their hard work really paid off. It gave us confidence for the more formal concert Sunday, Dec. 11th. We received this email: "I just wanted to say thank you to all the people who helped make Friday evening's Christmas party so amazing, especially-- but not limited to--Kathleen and the musicians in the choir for an entertaining and touching concert, as well as Tawfic and George and countless others who brought together the band, the decorations, the fireworks, the refreshments, and so many fun and surprising details. Our family and several guests from the kids' school had a delightful time! Many of our guests had never visited our campus before and all were impressed with the hospitality and the good will of that evening."

Photo: December 11th had arrived and we added a larger Christmas tree to the right side of the stage.

Photo: It was 7 PM prior our 8 PM concert. The students had come into the auditorium and when we were warming up, the power went out! Immediately, my thoughts raced to the Claytons in 2013 when they lost power the night of their Christmas concert. I thought, "Oh, no. . . . this can't be happening!" The choir gasped and rushed to the windows to see that West Jerusalem was also out of power. We couldn't see the Dome of the Rock and other sites usually lit but because the outside arches of the building were still lit, we only had to wait about 5 minutes before the inside lights came back on.

Photo: We got on the risers and started to rehearse and the power went out again but were able to get a photo of the choir before the concert started. Security assured us they would turn on the generators to make sure this would not happen during our concert.

Photo below: Last minute warm up.

Photo: The auditorium was almost full and we were getting ready to start. Garth always announces each concert and he introduced the choir. He explained that this semester we have 82 students with 31 guys and 51 girls. With 54 students in choir, they speak 23 languages. Two will be getting married one week after they return and other students will be returning to BYU Universities in Hawaii, Idaho and Provo.

Photo: Jarom and Brooke sang "The Most Beautiful Story" by Sally DeFord and the three Branson girls joined them on stage.

Photo: This vocal ensemble was a hit when they sang in beat-box style Penatonix's "Mary, Did You Know?"

Photo: After the concert, I took photos of the novelty acts and soloists. This mixed barbershop sang "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree." They had a lot of fun choreographing their number. Photo below: Jarom and Brooke sang a duet and Madeline accompanied on violin.

Photo: Sarah and Kelsie were soloists in "The Holly and the Ivy."

After the concert, we received a lot of wonderful compliments. One woman pulled me aside and said she was in tears as she listened and looked into the happy faces of the students. I received this today: Thank you so much for the wonderful Christmas Concert you gave us! It was amazing, inspiring and touching. Please note that you are NOT OLD - old people do not produce such great shows! Merry Christmas & God bless you and your family, Shlomo

All our hard work paid off and an email from our director, Eran Hayet, was the frosting on the cake: "All kudos should go to Tawfic and many helpers who in no-time put together a wonderful event of lights and sounds and to Kathy who did an amazing job with the choir."