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Our Christmas Additional Meeting was an evening devoted to celebrating the Savior's birth through music. We were very fortunate to be able to meet for the second year in a row at Jenny Zwick's beautiful home in Wellesley.

The program began with a quartet of Relief Society sisters(Jenny Bluhm, Kristine Bullen, Brynley Lazar and Kim Wilson) singing some Christmas carols from England with Brigitte Madrian on the piano. Kristine Bullen played us a beautiful oboe solo, accompanied by Brigitte Madiran. We also had a rousing Christmas singalong accompanied by Megan McQuivey. She lent us her Advent Songbooks, which are charming little booklets with the words to a large number of Christmas carols.

The evening was topped off by a Messiah sing. We put the Tabernacle Choir on the big TV and sang our hearts out to "For Unto Us a Child Is Born," and "Hallelujah Chorus." We were able to read the music from Messiah scores that Kristine found in the choir storage room. It was really exciting - we got a little taste what it would feel like to sing in a heavenly choir. One of the things we learned was that the work that Handel wrote was titled "Messiah" and not "The Messiah," as it is often called by those not in the know. Handel spent a relatively short time penning it and many believe that he was divinely inspired to write this stirring, deeply spiritual music that will endure for generations to come.

After the musical portion of the evening was finished, we moved on to...YUMMY FOOD! Anyone who reads this blog with regularity will sense a recurring theme: delicious things to eat. We are interested in food in the Weston 2nd Ward. We love to cook it, eat it and we are not hesitant to share it. There are always such great things to eat at these activities, and this one was no exception. Desserts, punch, appetizers - it was all there.

It was great to eat and mingle. For the performers, it was great to be able to relax after the "hard part" was over. For the audience who became performers during our Messiah sing, the food and the company were a nice reward for a job well done. A wonderful time was had by all.


The photos were taken by Julianna Smith - she makes us all look good! Thanks, Julianna!

As a parting gift, Jane Rhodes gave us a Christmas message with a candy cane. Our thanks to everyone who participated in and planned this wonderful event.