David Archuleta Christmas Concert

I woke up from my slumped over position against the window of the trax car. "We're here," Janell poked my shoulder. Suffering from only four to five hours of sleep the night before, I fell asleep almost every time I held still. But the instant I looked out the window onto the chilly streets of Salt Lake City, I was wide awake. We got off the train and decided to find a place to eat before we headed to the concert.

My sister Kayla's in-laws are in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, therefore giving them eight reserved tickets to their Christmas concert with David Archuleta. I had been looking forward to this concert for months, even though I wasn't fully sure if I would get to go. Kayla and her husband were given three tickets, but because of their newborn baby to arrange things at home for, gave them to us. Mom and Dad were at a meeting, so that left exactly three of us-- Braden, Janell, and me.

We wandered up and down the streets. Janell and Braden are both directionally challenged but insisted upon finding a restaurant on the street we were already on. But when I got to the point I felt like my nose was getting frostbite, I convinced them to allow me to lead them to the Gateway Mall. They followed me and we found a food court around the corner.

When we emerged from behind a building to go to a trax stop, we found the platform so overflown with people, the back of the mob began across the street. We ended up taking the second train that came. I sat in a chair and Braden and Janell stood up in front of me holding on to the bars attached to the ceiling. I kept myself awake until we got to the conference center.

We walked through temple square to see long, thick lines that slithered around trees and stairs to get in the doors. Once we found the correct line, it took us more than half an hour to get in the building. When we did, my purse was dug through by a man in rubber gloves and we all had to walk under a detector.

Fifteen more minutes past and we were in our seats. Right smack dab in the middle. It was perfect. But we still had an hour until the concert started, so during that time I napped on Braden's shoulder, messed around with my iPod, and listened to the complaining of the little girl next to me who smelled strongly of body odor.

Then the lights flickered, dimmed, and an announcer with a deep chocolaty voice walked out on stage. He introduced the choir, orchestra, and finally he dramatically introduced David Archuleta. The crowd erupted in loud applause. He smiled and said he was so happy to be home in Utah.

The music was AMAZING. The orchestra made no mistakes, and the choir was absolutely phenomenal. Seeing the MoTab choir on TV doesn't do them justice, they are perfect in every way. They have great posture, amazing vowels, flawless diction, and are ridiculously united. (I know, I'm such a choir geek.) But seriously, it was amazing! And David Archuleta's heavenly tones lit up the dark room with an indescribable light. I had never been to a live concert before, but at that moment I decided I really liked them. At the end of the concert some boring dude read a really long poem and I fell asleep on Braden. But every time David Archuleta would start singing again, I shot up from Braden's shoulder.

On the trax ride back to the parking lot I hogged up two seats to sleep. I slept on my side, practically bent in half with my feet flat on the floor. We got home around 11:30 and I went straight to bed. What a day.