Joe McCaffery’s Blog

The Christmas grind, I mean season is rolling along Nolan’s Christmas Concert was last week. Last year he seemed like he could care less about the program, but this year he was really excited for his concert. Every night at dinner he would sing one of his songs. We’d all clap and then he’d double check to make sure that that I would be going to his “conshurt”.

To make things just a little more memorable he also had a new Christmas outfit of which he was so proud. My mom took all the kids shopping and bought them really cute Christmas outfits. I keep forgetting that he mostly wears hand-me-downs, so when he gets something new he really appreciates it. So when the day of the concert came he could hardly wait to get into his outfit. I took the morning off and was able to cook him breakfast after getting the older kids off to school. He was so excited though that I had a heck of a time getting him to actually eat.  He did though and was all dressed up in no time.

Once he was all dressed he actually wanted us to take some video and some pictures of him. I’ve never seen him actually want to have his picture taken so it was a damn-near surreal watching him actually smile and pose for pictures. My mom was able to get away form work as well so he made sure he was able to get pictures with all of us. We probably took a little too long taking pictures though because when we finally did make our way down to his pre-school we were one of the last ones there.

That put my video taking skills to the test, but managed to get all of songs on tape (see one of them below). The best part about their Christmas concert is that it’s only 10 about from the time the kids walk in until they walk out. It’s the perfect length for kids that age…and my arm. I was in the back row and had to hold the camera above my head at a 45 degree angle in order to get a straight shot of him through all of the other parents in the room. Plus I had to zoom in, so any minor movement would show up on tape so when they started to walk out I was really feeling the burn…

After the reception there was a reception with snacks for the kids and surprise visit by Santa. I had to leave before Santa came, but luckily my wife was there to get some good pictures of Nolan with his friends and with Santa. Be sure to check out the photos of the Christmas concert.