Well-Prepared

Yesterday we sang for the Senior Citizens Christmas party at First Covenant Church in Willmar. We have never been so well-prepared. Why? For one thing, half the songs were from the Compline service that we already sang with the Stadem clan, so they were prepared three weeks ago and just had to remain polished by occasional practice. Most of the others were from years past, so we already knew them and just had to divvy up the parts for the smaller family size. Also, I've made a "To Do Before a Program" list and looked at it several times during the week.

Much of the improvement, however, was due to the simple fact that we are a smaller family now. On Thursday night, while I practiced one song with Sarah, Pete had Andrew and Philip pack up their program clothes. One song! It used to take up to an hour to pack up everyone's clothes, because not only were there three times as many clothes, but it was impossible to do two at a time, much less seven at a time, without losing half or more to play or foolishness or food. Of course we'd try anyway.

While there are aspects of the full house that I miss, getting ready for a program is not one of them.