Two Christmas Concerts

Dec 5, 2017: Mary and Sarah with singer Nathan Pacheco after his concert.

So...we got to enjoy two concerts this month, both of them Christmas-themed, both of them during the first week of December, both of them beautiful and fun. On Tuesday night, the 5th, we went back to the auditorium at Snowflake High School, the same place where we'd had such a great time meeting David Archuleta back in June, and this time we saw Nathan Pacheco in concert.

Nathan has gotten a lot of exposure recently, but he's not quite a household name yet. In fact, I'd never heard of him myself until about thirteen months ago, when I stumbled across the online video of his collaboration with David Archuleta on the beautiful song called The Prayer. (Click HERE for the song.) When we went to his concert, that was really all I knew about him other than a few tidbits Sarah had shared with me. She has become a big fan, and she was going to Nathan Pacheco's concert whether I joined her or not! In fact, Mark even decided to come along, being in the Christmas spirit and all.

Nathan Pacheco in concert.

It was a great concert. My favorite parts, as usual, were when he spoke about his wife and children and other facets of his life and career. Hearing an artist perform live is always amazing, but I really like to come away feeling I know the artist a little better as a person.

Although it was billed as a Christmas concert, Nathan sang a few other songs that were dear to him. My absolute favorites were those he sang in Italian. He has a great voice, but something incredible happens when he switches to Italian lyrics. His voice becomes so much more passionate, it simply soars. He has traveled abroad extensively to study internationally, and he's able to speak and compose in English,  Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese (he served a two-year mission in Brazil for the LDS Church).

When we met Nathan after the concert, I teased him that I was a little bit disappointed that he didn't speak with an Italian accent. He laughed out loud and said, "No, I'm just an all-American boy."

An intermission selfie of Mary, Mark, and Sarah.

I was on day two of a head cold; thus, the super-puffy eyes

After Mark took Sarah's and my picture with Nathan and Nathan had signed my CD, I stepped aside while Sarah spoke to Nathan, took a selfie with him (brave girl!), and got his autograph. Meanwhile, I found myself standing next to one of David Archuleta's managers, a lady named Kara. I'm not sure why she was in Snowflake for this particular concert, but Sarah recognized her while we were waiting in line. She follows Kara on Instagram (or one of those things I don't really know how to use...) so she can see what's going on when David is on the road.

I couldn't believe it, but she remembered Sarah and me from David's concert more than five months earlier! She asked me to remind her why David had made a video for us that night, so I explained about my son Dylan not believing it was really David Archuleta who spoke to him on the phone. Then she started laughing, remembering the "Watch me whip, watch me nae-nae" ringtone on my phone that started the whole thing. 

I told her we have tickets to see David's concert in Mesa this coming April, with the meet-and-greet afterward. "It won't be quite as great as the set-up we had here before," she said. I agreed: "Yeah, we both realize that night was a one-of-a-kind magical evening. I know he meets thousands of people, but I've wondered if he'll remember us because the situation was so odd and so recent." She laughed again. "Oh, I'm sure he'll remember you," she said. I guess we'll find out in April!

My signed copy of Nathan's new Christmas album. He signed Sarah's, too.

Below are a few moments from the concert.


That exciting moment when the performer takes the stage.


Nathan Pacheco sings "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."

Nathan Pacheco sings "Time to Say Goodbye," mostly in Italian. Be still, my heart!

My program and ticket for Sarah's Christmas concert.

December 2, 2017

Our second Christmas concert (which was actually the first), was three days before the Nathan Pacheco concert, when we all attended Sarah's annual event with White Mountain Symphony Orchestra. It was an afternoon of beautiful Christmas music, including a harp duet, a string quartet, and a soloist singing a selection from The Polar Express.

Sarah is at left, directly below the furthest-left choir singer on the stands.

This is the same auditorium where we saw Nathan Pacheco three days later.

It was especially fun having our entire family there this time. Jake even got off work a little early so he could make it. Plus, as I mentioned in my last post, this was Brooke's last few days with us before she returned home to Pennsylvania.

Mark, Chris, Sarah, Dylan, Jake, and Brooke after Sarah's concert.

When the concert ended, Dylan suggested that we go to Dairy Queen for dinner, no doubt thinking about a delicious DQ dessert after our meal. Unfortunately, by the time we got back into Show Low, they had closed down the main street (actually called Deuce of Clubs) for the annual Christmas light parade. And Dairy Queen is smack dab in the middle of the Deuce. So we headed to our next choice, further up the highway toward home, the Mexican restaurant Aliberto's. The food is always good and the company is always fabulous!

Dinner together at Aliberto's after the concert.