Emmanuel

Tonight I took Nicky to a Christmas concert at our childcare provider's church. It was a huge event and very packed. It was opening night and they have 9 more shows to go. We knew some of the members of the choir, so it made it extra special. Kevin had a bad migraine, so he stayed home with our daughter to watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns on TV. Definitely a yuletide theme permeated the evening.

It was a wonderful way to spend some quality time with Nicky. He really seemed to enjoy himself, though he began to get tired towards the last couple of songs. I thought he was a trooper for making it through the night as well as he did. He loves music, especially Christmas songs, so it was a lot of fun for us both. We especially enjoyed the children's choir and hand bells. Two of our childcare provider's daughters were on the hand bells and three were in the choir. Also, a couple of kids from his childcare were also in the children's choir.

During one portion of the concert, they played a brief video of a woman's difficult journey in finding God. She had been through hell and back. She battled drug addiction, abusive relationships, lost and regained custody of her kids, and grieved over the murder of her son by her boyfriend. It was through finding her faith that she found a way to heal and hope.

On the heels of this emotional story, the choir sang a beautiful rendition Emmanuel, a song I have always loved. It truly moved me to the point of tears. I think I had what you might call a spiritual moment of my own. Now I am not a very religious person, but I could really feel God's presence in the room and coming through to my heart. Music is truly a powerful thing.

We got home just in time to catch the tail end of Frosty Returns, so we watched that. After tucking the kids into bed, I took a swig of egg nog and called it a night. Well sort of, I decided to blog about our night. I definetly agree with the Andy William's holiday classic...it's the most wonderful time of the year!