Tree shopping

We visited a new tree farm with Cortney's parents, Curtis, and Patty for this year's Christmas tree hunt. It turns out that our traditional spot closed forever! The new place didn't have the quality of Scotch pines that we were used to, but it did have the perks of free hot chocolate, cider, and popcorn! Cortney's parents found a good tree to cut themselves, but for our house we decided to wait to see the pre-cut selection of a nursery in town. Our gamble paid off, as we found just the right shape for us. We've been enjoying that Christmas pine scent ever since!

Countertenors are real

We are being social in the cold snowy nights. We began Saturday evening with a wonderful holiday dinner with Jon's business group in a reserved room at a nice country club. We shared cocktails and conversation and a really nice meal. Long before the dinner was planned, however, we had tickets to the annual UMS performance of Handel's Messiah at Hill Auditorium so we had to leave the dinner party early to race over to Hill. We made it just as the orchestra was tuning up. We met up with the Lilly Resident Ministers from church, with whom we had bought group tickets (they're a really fun group of seminary grads our age). The performance was beautiful, as expected, but the real standout was the moment that the countertenor stood up and sang. Not only was he the most animated and excited performer, but he had a falsetto as rich as any female opera star. After the show, we all went out for coffee and took bets over whether the countertenor's speaking voice was as high as his singing one. Then we bid each other goodnight until we would meet again at church a mere seven hours later.