An Early Christmas

Everyone's gifts were finally under the tree (except the ones from Jacob

in Mesa) right before we started opening them on Sunday night.

December 23, 2018

Ordinarily, we're able to enjoy our family Christmas dinner and gift exchange on the actual date of Christmas. It's the one day of the year that Walmart closes, allowing Sarah and Dylan to have the same day off. Sarah and Chris always do their traditional Christmas with Chris's family on Christmas Eve, and Chris's place of business also closes on Christmas Day. Mark works during the morning and early afternoon of pretty much all holidays (that's Denny's for you), but has the whole late afternoon and evening free. The same had always been true for Jake, as well, allowing us to celebrate together later in the day, but with Jake's recent promotion to front desk supervisor at the resort, he ended up working on the evening of Christmas Day. Between his and Mark's schedules, it would have allowed for only an hour or so of family togetherness, food, and gifts.

That just doesn't work for me.

Later on, only Jacob's gifts await. We'll take them to him after New Year's,

then open our gifts from Jacob in Mesa and bring back his siblings' gifts.

As for Jacob, we'd hoped he'd be able to drive up and join us on Christmas Day, now that he lives in Mesa. Unfortunately, his work schedule had him on the job both Saturday and Monday. He was off on Sunday and Tuesday (Christmas Day), but doing a one-day trip on either day at this time of year can be tricky at this elevation. Inevitably, with such a short trip, you end up traveling during darkness one way or the other, when there's a risk that any trickle of water onto the highway might have frozen into a deadly sheet of black ice. I worry when my kids travel far distances after dark this time of year.

We decided Mark and I would take his gifts to him the day after Christmas, making it a two-day trip so we could travel during the warmth of daylight both days. Our plans changed when a snowstorm moved into the area on the night of Christmas Day, and it hung around for three days. Unsafe road conditions were predicted, so it wasn't worth the risk. Instead, we now plan to drive down the day after New Year's. So far, the weatherman is predicting another snowstorm (up to nine inches of snow!) for tomorrow and into Tuesday, but sunny skies for the two days we plan to travel, Wednesday and Thursday. Fingers crossed!

The turkey came out perfectly. Love my roasting pan!

In the end, we decided to do our Christmas two days early, as part of our weekly Sunday family dinner. That's the one evening of the week we're most likely able to gather. Mark, Dylan, and Jake work the morning and afternoon on most Sundays but, with rare exceptions, we all have the evening free.

We were all gathered together before 5:30 that day (except Jacob,  of course), which is a small feat in itself. By the time Dylan arrived after work, the turkey was done, and Sarah, Chris, and Jake had worked together to finish the mashed potatoes. I'd baked a pan of thick, gooey brownies earlier that morning to enjoy for dessert. All we needed to do was saute the buttery corn, make the gravy (Sarah excels at gravy), prepare the stuffing (Jake took on that task), and bake the dinner rolls that had been rising all afternoon. Mark carved the turkey while the rest of us finished up and set out the food and dishes.

Mark starts carving the turkey while Sarah works on the gravy.

Christmas dinner was a smaller version of our Thanksgiving dinner, with a 14-lb turkey (provided by Dylan and Jake) instead of 24 lbs, and minus the green bean casserole and pies. That meant less mess and fewer leftovers, which was okay by me. It was a delicious meal, prepared by many loving hands, which I greatly appreciated!

It's always a disaster area after all the Christmas presents are opened!

Then, after dinner, it was time for the fun of discovering what was hidden in all the brightly colored packages, boxes and bags, over the past few weeks. As always, when we were done, we each gathered our gifts and set them out for Mom's camera. It's fun to look back and see what gifts we received, and from whom, on any given Christmas.

Sarah with her gaggle of gift packages.

Note: Sarah and Chris opted to exchange their own presents to each other on Christmas morning in their own home, so those gifts are not included here.

Sarah poses with all her new presents.

To Sarah, from Dylan and Jake: A decorative box holding Harry Potter artifacts (see photo below for details).

From Mark: A box of premium chocolates and a Walmart gift card.

From me: A small ceramic violin figure for her curio cabinet; a fully-illustrated re-release of the original Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; a "chocolate" frog (from Harry Potter) in a decorative case, including a collectible Wizards Trading Card of Albus Dumbledore; a tall five-shelf bookcase for Sarah's new doll collection (left to her by her great-grandma Helen Carter); and two boxes of Atkins protein bars (for Sarah's New Year resolution).

Closeup of Sarah's tiny, new, ceramic violin.

Closeup of contents of the Harry Potter artifact box.

Cool items in the Harry Potter artifact box include:

1) Harry's acceptance letter to Hogwarts, in the envelope addressed to "The cupboard under the stairs"

2) Scroll signed by all members of Dumbledore's Army

3) Lenticular (3-D) photo of members of Order of the Phoenix, including Harry's parents Lily and James, with mum Lily clearly pregnant with Harry

4) Lily Potter's letter to Sirius Black, written just after Harry's first birthday and about two months before Lily and James were murdered by Voldemort

5) Sirius Black's Wanted Poster

6) Ticket to the World Cup Quidditch game in Ireland

7) Luggage tag for traveling on the Hogwarts Express (made of metal, very solid!)

Closeup of the "chocolate" frog. It's actually stick-to-the-wall rubbery.

The chocolate frog and its case, plus the included wizard trading card.

Amazing 3-D. Dumbledore seems to actually turn to watch as you walk past.

Chris with his heap of presents.

Chris with this year's haul.

To Chris, from Dylan and Jake: A Pokemon Ultra-Moon role-playing video game.

From Mark: A Virtual Reality headset, plus a variety package of Reese's peanut butter cups.

From me: "The One Ring" from The Lord of the Rings; a metal display case for The One Ring; a Star Wars tee-shirt; a Hickory Farms sausage-cheese-and-cracker sampler; and three pairs of socks featuring sharks, dogs, and cats.

Closeup of "The One Ring" from Lord of the Rings.

It's a gorgeous replica of the movie prop.

"One Ring to rule them all,

One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all 

And in the darkness bind them."

Closeup of "The One Ring" in its impressive display case.

Looking at the kinds of gifts we give each other, I guess it's pretty obvious that we're a family of fantasy and science fiction nerds. We're particularly fond of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, anything Star Wars and Star Trek, and everything Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. For the guys, we must include Pokemon. For Dylan and me, add on the Zelda video games. Plus, I adore the beautiful film Avatar. I can't wait for the movie sequels!

Dylan with his stack of stuff.

Note: While Sarah and Chris decided to wait and open their personal gifts to each other on Christmas morning in their own home, Jake and Dylan decided to go ahead and open their presents to each other while we were all together at this family gathering. I'm pretty sure it was because they suspected they'd be getting an electronic game or two that neither could wait two more days to play!

Dylan with his Christmas presents.

To Dylan, from Jake: A box of eight Pokemon Gym Badges; a mug bearing the crest of Hyrule, the kingdom in Zelda; and a Hyrule crest tee-shirt. Jake also plans to get Dylan a Lift Ticket so he can go snowboarding at nearby Sunrise Ski Resort this season, once Dylan settles on a date to go.

From Sarah and Chris: A large Hershey's chocolate bar and a Walmart gift card.

From Mark: A box of Rice Krispy Treats and a Walmart gift card.

From me: The new Super Smash Brothers Ultimate video game; a retro Gameboy-style cell phone case, actually loaded with working games like Tetris and Frogger; a collection of Zelda pins; a Star Wars "I'll Be Home for Sithmas" tee-shirt; and five pairs of Zelda socks (which he's been rocking at Walmart, making his co-workers jealous).

The Pokemon League Badges, also known as Gym Badges, must be

earned in order to participate in certain levels of play for Pokemon Go.

Dylan earned them all long ago; these are merely physical representations.

These Zelda pins are based on items in the video games.

Jake with his load of laden boxes and bags.

Jake with his Christmas goodies.

To Jake, from Dylan: A Star Wars mug featuring Han and Chewie in the Millennium Falcon, which changes when hot liquid is added; a Funko Pop figure of Dominus Ghaul, a character from the Destiny 2 video game; Star Wars seat covers for Jake's Kia Soul; and a glass Chess set.

From Dylan, Sarah, and Chris: A Jedi Challenge AR headset and lightsaber experience set.

From Sarah and Chris: A large Hershey's chocolate bar.

From Mark: A box of Russell Stover candies and a Walmart gift card.

From me: The Han Solo Card Game, based on the gambling game of Sabacc in the Star Wars films; a replica of Han Solo's chance cubes, used in a version of Sabacc called "Corellian Spike," which hang in the Millennium Falcon's cockpit; a set of Dwarven coin replicas from The Hobbit films; a Star Wars "I'll Be Home for Sithmas" tee-shirt (to match Dylan's); and five pairs of Harry Potter socks.

Replicas of the Dwarven coin props from The Hobbit films.

Real struck-metal, very heavy in the hand.

When the mug is filled with hot liquid, the star field outside the cockpit of

the Millennium Falcon is replaced by the elongated streaks of hyperspace.

Jake's eyes popped when he saw the lightsaber in his Jedi Challenge AR set. 

I hadn't even heard of the Jedi Challenge AR headset and lightsaber experience until Jake opened that gift from Sarah, Chris, and Dylan (who pooled their money for it). We all got to try it out a few days later, and it was amazing fun. And quite a workout...but more on that in a later post. It was reminiscent of the Star Wars VR experience we did at the VOID in Las Vegas, which was so incredibly awesome.

I know what VR is (virtual reality), but I had to look up AR. It stands for augmented reality. In essence, VR creates an entire world around you, erasing the reality, whereas AR allows you to see the real world through the visor (such as your living room or wherever you're playing) and simply brings into your world the people or things you'll be interacting with. In this case, opponents with whom you spar as you develop your lightsaber skills.

Mark with his pile of presents.

Mark's gifts.

To Mark, from Sarah and Chris: a Walmart gift card and a large Hershey's chocolate bar.

From Dylan and Jake: a two-DVD set of Super Troopers (two films I find painfully goofy, but Mark finds totally hilarious); and a yard-long box of Mark's favorite candy, Snickers.

From me: a small television for Mark's room (he's been wanting his own TV pretty much since he moved in three and a half years ago); a Roku stick for the TV; an electric knife sharpener (he gets frustrated trying to sharpen our knives with a file); a Deadpool tee-shirt (another goofy character who makes him guffaw); and five pairs of socks featuring Call of Duty skulls and such.

The gifts I received from my very generous family.

From Sarah and Chris: a lovely new Willow Tree figurine for my collection, which I adore, this one called "Journey." And a big Hershey bar!

From Dylan and Jake: Seraphina Piquery's wand from the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; a "Family Is Life's Greatest Blessing" frame holding my new favorite photo of me with all three of my children; an artist's kit containing paints and pastels and sketch pencils; and a Harry Potter sorting hat ornament.

[Note: a few years back, Dylan was deeply struck by the realization that everyone else had a large-ish stack of presents on Christmas morning, whereas Mom rarely had more than two or three to open. I've always been fine with that, since my pleasure comes from watching my children's faces light up at each package they open. Since then, though, Dylan has always made sure to provide me with enough gifts to have a stack of my own. It's not necessary, of course, but I love his thoughtfulness. I love that all my kids have such generous hearts.]

From Mark: a gift card for our local WME theater (I love going to see movies, especially science fiction and fantasy!); a pair of cute earrings with green stones; and an M&Ms mug filled with mini-bags of M&Ms, my favorite candies.

My family definitely knows what I like!

The beautiful Willow Tree figurine called "Journey."

A closeup of Seraphina Piquery's wand. I think it's the most beautiful wand

in all of Harry Potter's wizarding world. Piquery was Madame President of

the Magical Congress, the American version of  Britain's Ministry of Magic.

The frame that Dylan and Jake gave me really says it all. In fact, Jake said they'd originally chosen a different frame, but when they saw this one they knew it was "The One." He told me, "The frame says exactly what you always say about family." It's the truth. My life is rich in blessings, but none greater than the gift of family. And Christmas is the perfect time to remember how blessed we are to have each other!

I love this frame and I love the people in the frame!

Dashing Through the Snow

December 28, 2018: Driving out of my neighborhood toward the highway

for the fourth time on day two of our most recent snowstorm.

One of the perks of being retired with an empty nest is not having to go outside in the snow. Instead, you get to stay indoors and enjoy the toasty warmth of your home while the lovely white stuff floats gently down, creating a winter wonderland. At least, that's what I'd hoped.

Unfortunately, a busy life goes on despite the weather. And yesterday the driving conditions weren't exactly prime.

On the highway, heading home from Denny's. Visibility wasn't great.

(Don't worry, these pics were taken by Mark, not me, at the end of the day.)

I knew I'd have to go out twice, of course, to take Mark to work at 7:45 and pick him up again around 4:15. What I forgot was that I also needed to pick up Chris from work early, at 11:45, since his client (Chris works with disabled adults) was having foot surgery that afternoon. I'd also totally forgotten that I had my annual mammogram appointment at the hospital at 2:00.

Still on the highway, driving south toward home...

That made for a busy, stressful day. I truly don't mind running errands on any normal day, but with these weather conditions it can get pretty hairy. Cars were sliding around and sirens were sounding in the distance throughout the day. I witnessed a few near-misses, including one of my own. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.

A little further up the highway...

After I'd dropped Mark off at work, I carefully drove home on the icy streets. From the highway, the turn onto the street that leads back into my neighborhood is unusual, in that you drive up onto the street between two short stretches of curb, exactly like driving up the slanted entrance into someone's home driveway. Because of the slight change in elevation, snow accumulates especially thickly at the bottom of the slope. I've learned from twenty-six winters of turning at that particular corner that it's a great place to slide right past your turn if you don't slow to a crawl in this type of weather.

About halfway home from Denny's at this point.

So that's what I did as I approached my turn early yesterday morning. There was a truck at the corner, waiting to turn right, onto the highway, which would put him directly in front of me before I made my turn. Normally, that's no problem. And, honestly, in the almost-three years that I've owned my all-wheel-drive Traverse, I haven't experienced a single incident of slippage on icy or snow-covered roads. Still...

At my creep-along speed, with my turn signal blinking, the guy in the truck apparently felt it was safe to go ahead and make his turn in front of me. A split second later, my brakes locked and I began sliding directly toward the truck, saying out loud, "No, no, no..." I worked the steering wheel as hard as I could and, thankfully, due to my extremely slow speed, my car actually shifted just enough to miss the truck's back end. I came to a stop on the slope of the street's entrance, exactly where the truck had been sitting, waiting to make its turn.

Almost there...

It might be tempting to think it's a good thing the truck turned when it did, or I might have hit it where it sat. What many people don't understand is that, once you start to slide, it's nearly impossible to regain control until you eventually slide to a stop. If your direction changes, it's due to a rock or hole or ice formation or uneven pavement under the wheels, not the driver madly trying to steer. So it's a bit of a miracle that the car shifted into the turn, uphill. That just doesn't happen.

If the truck's driver had waited, I would have allowed my car to continue its slide forward until it came to almost a stop, when I could have reestablished control and made the next turn a little further up the highway. The biggest reason for driving slowly during a storm is the fact that sliding on ice slowly is unlikely to kill anyone or cause more than minor damage to a car. The idiots racing past other cars on the highway are the ones who get people killed.

Other than increasing my stress level, everything was fine after that. I watched other vehicles play slip-and-slide in the snow during later trips out, but I didn't witness any accidents.

And then, one mile from home, we came upon this long line of cars, stopped.

On my final outing, to bring Mark home, we got stuck behind a long line of stopped vehicles a mile from our turn. We wondered if there was an accident ahead, since an ambulance had passed us a few minutes earlier, going the opposite direction, heading toward the hospital about two miles behind us.

Eventually, as the traffic thinned a few blocks from home, we decided it was just the winter vacationers and skiers arriving in town on a Friday afternoon, looking forward to a fun weekend of snow in the White Mountains. You can see the car ahead of us is loaded with luggage and an ice chest. It's a reminder that we live in a resort town.

Finally, back on our own little street.

I love the snow. It's beautiful and it's needful, to keep our lakes and reservoirs filled and to reduce the chance of wildfires come spring. I feel blessed to actually live in an environment so beautiful that people make plans to leave their homes so they can spend weekends and vacations in the place I call home every day, winter, spring, summer, and fall.

Yes, I love the snow. Just don't ask me to drive in it.

Safely back home, at last.

Winter Wedding

December 17, 2018: Tahna and Rodney on their wedding day.

I got to be Sarah's date to a wedding on Monday evening. One of her best friends since high school married the man of her dreams two days before flying to Tennessee, where the new couple will make their home. Tahna has two young children from a previous marriage, and Rod has four, so they are starting off with a houseful! 

Wedding cake on display.

Besides being Sarah's friend, Tahna is also family. She's a younger sister of my sister-in-law Dana (Jeff's wife), so we've known each other for a long time. Tahna is one of the sweetest gals we've ever had the pleasure to know, and we wish her all the happiness she so deserves.

The wedding ceremony begins.

The wedding was hosted at the home of a wonderful family who lived near Tahna in Snowflake. When I looked up the address online and saw the little red "pin" on the map, I thought to myself, "I think I've been there before." So I switched to street view and saw the front of the house (below). Then I texted Sarah to tell her I was pretty sure it was the same house where we first met David Archuleta for "Dinner with David" before a concert a year and a half ago. And, indeed, it was the same house!

This house was strangely familiar to Sarah and me!

It's a beautiful house and the owners are the ultimate hosts. They served sixty or so wedding guests a large meal that was every bit as sumptuous as the one Sarah and I had enjoyed there last year. By the time they brought out the main course of chicken, steak, twice-baked potatoes, mixed vegetables, and fresh-baked bread with rich honey-butter, we were already pretty well filled up on appetizers of garden salad, green bean salad, and more bread. All followed by delicious lemon wedding cake, of course.

We're so happy for Tahna and Rod. Congratulations, you two!

A main course fit for a queen!

Beyond Magical

December 6, 2018: David and Sarah, together again!

What a night! On Thursday, Sarah and I attended our fourth David Archuleta concert, this time a Christmas concert, held at the Mesa Arts Center (the same venue as his last concert we attended back on April 14th, almost eight months ago). Our first Archuleta concert experience was in Queen Creek, not far from Mesa, way back in March 2016. We'd all been huge fans since David won the runner-up position in the seventh season of American Idol (spring 2008). That first concert was a family affair, with Sarah, Chris, Dylan, Mark, and me in attendance, as well as some of my nieces and nephews sitting with their spouses a few rows directly behind us. It was a great evening. (You can find that blog post HERE.)

A year later, in June 2017, David came to Snowflake to perform at the local high school auditorium. Snowflake is close to home, less than a 30-minute drive away, and they offered special VIP "Dinner-with-David" tickets. Sarah decided she didn't want to be simply a face in the crowd this time. She wanted to meet David in person, so she bought the VIP tickets. I was happy to join her. How excited I would have been if I'd had the chance to meet my heartthrob, Davy Jones of the Monkees, back when I was a besotten thirteen-year-old!

That first one-on-one meeting with David was unexpectedly magical. There were only ten VIP ticket holders and the setting was intimate, allowing some time to really visit with David. It was clear from their first meeting that David and Sarah connected on some unspoken level, perhaps inspired by their shared love of music, and it was a night we'll never forget. (You can read more about that experience HERE.) We didn't realize until the next time we saw David that he hadn't forgotten it, either.

Sarah and I purchased the VIP meet-and-greet tickets again for David's concert in Mesa last April. That experience lacked the intimacy of our first meeting, with about sixty VIP ticket holders present and extremely limited time to spend with him one-on-one. Still, it was made special by the fact that he recognized us the moment he saw us from the stage before the concert, exclaiming, "Hey, I know you two!" He even recalled specific things about Sarah, like the fact that she plays violin with a symphony orchestra, when we met with him briefly after that. (That post is located HERE.)

This time, Sarah decided to forgo the VIP tickets. It does get a little pricey, and we would be happy to merely bask in the holiday tunes performed by the sweet voice of David Archuleta. We expected to be just concert-goer faces in the crowd again, and we were fine with that. It still feels like a little miracle that the evening turned out to be so much more than we'd anticipated!

Jacob's new Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

We drove down the mountain to Mesa on Thursday morning, the day of the concert. A storm system had moved in during the previous night but, thankfully, the roads were clear and we encountered just a little sleet and snow along the way. For this concert, it would be Sarah, Jacob, Mark, and myself attending. Chris had to stay behind to work, but he's more of a Scotty McCreery fan anyway.

It was 12:30 when we got to Jacob's house in Mesa. We picked him up and went to Carl's Jr. for lunch. Next, we went to Walmart to choose a Christmas tree for Jacob. With all the expense of his divorce, his move from Utah back to Arizona, the costs of fixing up the house and starting a new job, Jacob couldn't afford to buy a tree. Everyone should have at least a tiny Christmas tree under which to place their gifts, so I promised him a really cheap, obviously fake one, a true Charlie Brown Christmas tree. 

We settled on a twenty-dollar, three-foot-tall specimen, which looked truly pathetic when Jacob first shook it out of its tiny box. However, after a little TLC from Jacob, then Sarah, then me, a nice-looking little tree emerged, as shown in the photo above. Jacob did have a skirt for the tree, as well as some ornaments, so he's now all set for the holidays. He even had all his Christmas gift shopping done by the following afternoon.

Mary, Sarah, and Jacob dine at Boston Market before the concert.

Between Walmart and dinner time, Jacob prepared a batch of cinnamon rolls from scratch, so we'd have a treat to enjoy after we got back from the concert. It was a little after 5:00 when we left the house to have dinner at Boston Market before the big event.

Sarah, Jacob, and Mark enjoy dinner at Boston Market.

Since I'd discovered that I'd left my camera's SD memory card at home, we made one more stop at Walmart to buy a new one. You can't go to a concert without a camera! I could have used my cell phone's camera like everyone else does, of course, but my trusty camera usually gets much higher quality photos than any cell phone. Sadly, though, the lighting at this concert--particularly the spotlight that followed David onstage--made his face appear like a bright blob in nearly all my pictures, and in Sarah's cell phone shots, as well. The photos below were the best I could post, sorry!

Mary, Sarah, Jacob, and Mark waiting for the concert to begin.

By the time we'd finished dinner, stopped by Walmart, and paid $5.00 to park in the Mesa Arts Center parking lot, it was 6:45, about forty-five minutes before the concert was to begin. Sarah and I made a stop at the ladies' room, where we found a bunch of young girls wearing VIP passes and chattering excitedly about recently meeting David Archuleta. Truthfully, we both had a brief twinge of envy that we'd missed out on the meet-and-greet, but mostly we were at peace with our decision.

Finally, we met the guys and entered the auditorium at 7:00 to find our seats. Jacob was particularly excited (although not nearly as thrilled as Sarah, obviously) because this would be his very first David Archuleta concert. In the end, he thought it was great and expressed his desire to attend more of his concerts in the future.

Jacob, Sarah, and Mark do selfies in front of the stage before the concert.

Our seats were perfect. When Sarah said we had the four end-seats on the right side of the concert hall, I thought she meant we'd be further back. Again, I imagined we'd just be faces in the crowd, nothing more than silhouettes in a dark concert hall. I was wrong, though.

Our seats were actually in the "orchestra pit," the area directly in front of the stage. Three rows of seats were lined up there, and we were in the third row, but we were still very close to the stage, as you can see in the photo below. Those are my blue-jeans-clad knees at the bottom of the picture. There was a wide aisle behind us, with the regular seating starting beyond the aisle. There were no seats at all to our right. Everything else was behind us.

Best of all, there were no chairs in front of our three seats at the end of the row, so no one was between us and the stage. Only Mark had someone seated in front of him, the end-seat of the second row. That made us hope that maybe David would be able to see us and we could at least give him a wave.

This is how close our seats were to the stage (see my knees?).

The concert began at 7:30 with a 20-minute performance by Madilyn Paige, a friend of David Archuleta. She has a beautiful voice and Sarah is a big fan. Apparently Madilyn was a contestant on the TV show, The Voice, which I've never watched but Sarah has. Sarah was so excited when she learned Madilyn was going to be opening for David. Along with several holiday numbers, Madilyn sang an amazing song called "Irreplaceable," which she actually wrote as a high school student. Sarah's only disappointment was that Madilyn and David didn't perform their duet of "Seasons," one of Sarah's favorites. However, David did bring Madilyn out for a Christmas duet as an encore near the end of the concert.

Unfortunately, none of my pictures of Madilyn Paige turned out. I think her bright blonde hair must have intensified the shiny-blob factor!

David Archuleta's Christmas Concert, Mesa Arts Center.

There was a ten- to fifteen-minute wait after Madilyn's set. Then David's band came out to their instruments...and then, finally, David himself came out onstage to wild applause, singing one of his Christmas songs, "Melodies of Christmas." He went first to the microphone stand, briefly, and then he went to the edge of the stage opposite from us, performing for the cheering crowd. It's clear that he loves the energy produced by the fans at his concerts, as he moves back and forth on the stage to connect with them.

David Archuleta performs in concert for Christmas.

I knew he would eventually work his way to our side of the stage, so I hoped we'd be able to catch his eye and give him a wave. I was a little dismayed when I realized that the placement of the band's bass player on our side of the stage, as well as the speakers on the edge of the stage right in front of us, left little room for David to maneuver easily to the far end of the stage near our seats. As I'd expected, he had to stop several feet short of us as he sang his way across the front of the stage.

David Archuleta performs in concert for Christmas.

But that's when the first little miracle happened. As he sang along the front of the stage, his eyes had been scanning the people in the front three rows. I've noticed before that he does that, perhaps looking for familiar faces or people he met during the meet-and-greet before the concert. With all the lights on his face, he wouldn't be able to see specific faces further back in the auditorium, but the people in the seats directly below the stage are pretty well illuminated by the stage lights.

David Archuleta in concert with his band on stage at Mesa Arts Center.

After he reached the area crowded with the speakers and the bassist's equipment (see above photo), David stopped walking, and I thought that would be the end of that. However, his eyes kept moving over the people past that point, until they reached me and Sarah at the end. You know that smile you get when you run into someone you know and like? That's exactly what happened. David's smile widened when his eyes landed on me, and then he immediately moved his gaze to Sarah, where it remained fixed for what felt like a very long time. Literally, he was singing to Sarah for probably thirty seconds or so. He never stays still that long on stage (unless he's seated, of course), and since there was no one else sitting around us, it was clear that he was letting Sarah know he'd seen her and was glad she was there.

David Archuleta performs in concert for Christmas.

And it wasn't just Sarah and me who noticed. When David finally moved back toward the center of the stage, I saw that both Jacob and Mark were staring at us with their mouths open. "Wow," was all they could say. As for Sarah, when I looked back at her, she whispered in wonder, "He was singing to me!"

The cell phone flashlight apps always come out for the song "Glorious."

I love it!

For the rest of the concert, David put on an amazing performance but didn't single us out again. That was fine. We were so happy that he'd recognized and acknowledged us, we were just grateful and enjoyed the rest of the show. Sarah could probably have died in perfect happiness at that point.

That is, he didn't single us out again until the final number. 

David Archuleta performs in concert for Christmas.

We totally didn't see this one coming. He announced his last song, Christmas Every Day, and began singing. Again, he was walking along the edge of the stage, connecting with his audience. For some reason, it sticks in my head that he was singing the line, "there's nothing like a Christmas tree surrounded by family" when he reached our end of the stage and I realized he was smiling straight at me. Then, for the first time, he squeezed between the bassist and speakers to stand at the edge of the stage directly in front of us, very obviously singing right to Sarah with that wide smile on his face. While David sang, Sarah gave him a little wave and he waved back. Again, he stayed and sang to her for an unusually long time before moving back to center stage.

David performs the final encore of the evening.

While David finished the last song, I looked over and noticed that a lot of people sitting in the first two rows were now craning their necks to look back at us. Clearly, they were wondering who that girl was and why she was getting so much personal attention!

That wasn't really the final song, of course. After he left the stage, there was the usual standing ovation accompanied by chants of "David! David!" He and his band came back out to perform two encores, the first with Madilyn Paige and the second on his own. Then, knowing that was really the end of the show, his fans raced down to the edge of the stage, where he always shakes as many hands as he can.

"Hey, Sarah! I'm so happy to see you!"

He was uncharacteristically quick with the hand-shaking on this night, perhaps because he had a special guest coming backstage to meet him (you can read about that in the next paragraph). We could see his manager urging him to hurry along. Even so, when he came to Sarah, he burst out with, "Hey, Sarah! I'm so happy to see you!" (Prompting more stares from people around us.) He paused for a brief visit and a hug, and then posed with her for the picture below.

One more time, the final and best concert photo of the evening:

David Archuleta and Sarah Kinsky!

It's plain that David is one of those people who connects deeply with others and has many cherished friendships. After the concert, we saw a group of older people being escorted backstage, and later Sarah saw David's post about his middle school bus driver who was at the concert, whom David had his team bring backstage so he could visit with her. He even posted a cute video with her. 

Jacob told me the next day that he'd thought about talking to David himself, regarding a missionary he knew who was an old school-friend of David Archuleta. Jacob served with this other young man in the Santa Rosa Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in northern California, from December 2010 to November 2012. He said that when David had a concert coming up in the Santa Rosa mission area (probably San Francisco in November 2011), not long before reporting for his own mission in March 2012, David requested permission for this missionary friend to attend his concert so he could see him once more before he himself left to serve as a missionary in Chile. (Permission was granted.)

Being the kind of person David is, I don't feel his connection to Sarah is unusual, but it is special. Nothing romantic, obviously. They barely know each other. Sarah is happily married to a man who adores her. She always wears her wedding ring, and her Facebook name and page openly declare her marital state. When her brothers tease her with questions like, "Would you leave Chris to marry David Archuleta?" she laughs and tells them "No" in no uncertain terms. She loves her man. I just think that, if circumstances were such that Sarah and David saw each other with some regularity, they would become good friends. Perhaps because of their shared love of music. Perhaps because they are both a little shy by nature. Perhaps because they were friends in the preexistence. Who can say? 

Jacob prepared these made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls for us to enjoy

after the concert. This was before he slathered them with cream cheese icing.

After the concert, we drove back to Jacob's place and quickly polished off his pan of amazing cinnamon rolls. We happily relived the events of the evening and shared them with Jacob's roommate. Even Dylan called from Lakeside to ask how the concert went. He and Jake expressed amazement as we described how David singled out Sarah during the concert. 

It was...magical.

I was so honored when Jacob let me drink from his special Wolf Cup

the next morning, filled with chocolate milk for breakfast!