Thursday, December 10, 2009

silent night.

tonight's the night...it's the christmas concert. our 14 year old daughter loves to sing! loves singing in the car....in the shower...in her bedroom....singing to the car radio, her ipod.....even with her earphones on, she's got the voice....it's a gift. she has the ear....the rythym...the attitude....the style! she also has a brother.

we all agree that she has a beautiful voice.....even her brother can recognize her talent...although that's not what he calls it when he has reached his limit.....

we take alot of road trips...our kids have been road warriors since birth....we have packed them up in the car with road toys, road cheerios, road books and of course road tunes! we've sung up and down the east coast....and then they became teenagers.


on a roadtrip, singing in the car has been good family fun....until our kids became teenagers....they suddenly did not care for our choice of music or our singing! i'm the mom who sang to them everynight....we're the parents who had kitchen dancing every night after dinner with random music from chopin to the grateful dead to tony bennett....to....raffi and fred penner. we are even guilty of playing music to them while still inside...me! they attended a pre school at the conservatory of music... we have been to mom and me music classes, throwing colorful scarves through the air....."mummies and daddies mustn't be uncomfortable dancing and tossing the scarves....mummies and daddies must be free and allow the babies to feel free to flow with the music.....".......we've done the hokey pokey, we've mimicked the itsy bitsy spider, we've opened the doors to see all of the people.....we have even stooped so low as to sing the barney song while picking up toys with our kids...you get the picture!

now, our roadtrips are more challenging due to the electronic and technological advances in our lives....it's all fun until grace starts singing in the car to her own ipod music while wearing her headphones...she keeps on key, miraculously.....however, it gets a little uncomfortable, a tad unpleasant for t.j., wearing his ipod with his earphones, sitting in the car next to her.....and he can't hear his own music! this involves parental intervention....which never ends well. "well, if you don't like my singing, just tell me! "i know you don't think i'm a good singer and i'll never be a good singer.......", she rants. her brother eggs her on....us, the parents, we're just hopeful that everyone will beat to their own drummer so that we may have a front seat date..... while attempting to just hear about each other's lives...you know, some of the things we may have missed about each other in the last 14 years....just trying to make the most of our time to get reaquainted!

early this evening, while i was wrapping christmas presents by the christmas tree, t.j. was doing homework on the computer..... grace was upstairs in her room....you guessed it...singing, singing, singing. finally, t.j., distracted by the broadway showtunes being belted out by his older sister, went to the bottom of the stairs and begged grace to stop! "do you hear what i hear?" it was grace, highly insulted, "i knew you hated my singing....i'm not even LOUD....NEVERMIND...IT'S TIME TO GO TO THE CONCERT ANYWAY!"

"joy to the world!"... NOT. "silent night"... NOT. the boy stayed home....the girl left in a huff...the husband arrived in the midst of it all.....the mom kissed the boy goodbye...his homework undone....we drove off to the concert......

the sweetness of the singing was lovely....and, it was joyful! music to our ears! peace on earth, goodwill to all....except brothers....and sometimes, sisters.