Christmas 2015
Christmas is a wonderful, but VERY busy time for musicians. We kicked off December with a run of the Charlotte Symphony's Magic of Christmas show. So many people came to get in the Christmas spirit, including my adorable student Ella Grace and her mom! We then kicked off our long running Nutcracker run with the Charlotte Ballet. It can be difficult to play so many shows back to back, but Nutcracker is beautiful music and I love watching the dancers. It reminds me of my time as a ballerina (even though I'm the clumsiest person...seriously, I've dropped harps on my toes too many times to count). The cherry on top this year was that my brother, Dan, was able to come up from Charleston and play a few of the Nutcracker performances with me! Its wonderful to look over and see him in the cello section.
In the midst of all the Nutcracker shows, I also played at several local churches for their Christmas concerts and services. Some of the highlights were the Myers Park United Methodist Christmas concert, a service at St. Francis United Methodist, performances at both Ebenezer Baptist and Woodlawn Baptist Church (complete with AMAZING gift bag of goodies that I may or may not have housed in the car).
Every year, I fly back to New Jersey to spend Christmas with my family. For the past 7 years, I've played the Christmas Eve service at Second Reformed Church of Hackensack, NJ. They are so welcoming and its a pleasure to play with not only the choir, but with the fantastic music director, June Murrano-Murray.