{Paul Cardall}

 We love Christmas time.  I know shocker!!  We love the things that we only get to do at Christmas time.  Living where we do, we get to do things and see things that are pretty cool.  Last year the two older kids went to a concert at the Washington D.C. Temple visitor's center.  It was Jenny Oaks Baker, a fantastic violinist.  The kids loved it, so did I.  This year when the schedule came out for this season's concerts we found another one that we really wanted to go to.  It was Paul Cardall.  I love piano/instrumental music and Meysa is taking piano lessons, so I thought it would be the perfect thing.

We got to the visitor's center early and checked out the new renovations that they have been working on.  When we saw that people were getting in line we hopped  in as well and hoped to get a good seat.  We actually got seats in the 2nd row just off center.  The kids and I were excited to be so close.

After a few songs, Mr. Cardall commented on how many kids were in the audience.  Assuming that most of the kids were taking piano lessons he said he wanted to have a couple of them help him write a song on the spot.  The auditorium lights came up a little and he picked Meysa and Lauryn out of the audience.  As the girls were walking up he asked if either one played the piano.  Meysa said yes, she did.  Lauryn said no but she was going to start soon.  Mr. Cardall then asked Meysa if she had a song she would like to play....she said sure.  So she sat down in front of a full auditorium and played her Christmas recital piece, "Deck the Halls", perfectly and without hesitation!!  When she was done, the place erupted in applause.  Mr. Cardall said that what she did took guts, and that she did an amazing job.  The girls then got to the task of picking out a few notes for him to put together a song on the spot.  Of course the song he came up with was amazing.

When it was all over and Paul was bowing he had Meysa and Lauryn stand up again for another round of applause.  Meysa had people stopping her as we were leaving, telling her what a great job she did.  We stayed after just a bit in order to get a good picture with Paul for the record books.  It was a great night and one we won't soon forget.  I think Meysa has decided to stick with piano!!