Sitting in the audience with my youngest, awaiting the start of the Tele’s first ever Christmas Concert, the anticipation was palpable.
We watched as the first school choir from primaries four and five took their places – two of my sons among them.
“Are those red heads yours?” The lady behind asked. “I thought so. They look so like you.”
Poor things. An Italian complexion they did not inherit.
As I’d be there anyway, Tele editor Dave Lord had suggested I might want to say a few words of introduction.
Taking to the stage, I saw the rows and rows of expectant faces.
Parents beaming with pride. A mum trying to get her boy’s attention to tell him to tuck in his shirt. Many just brimming with excitement at finally being able to celebrate the run up to Christmas.
And there was so much to celebrate.
First annual concert was a celebration of Dundee
There was not wearing a mask for starters – seeing the faces of children so sweet and open to life, singing for us.
And there was something quite historic to celebrate.
We were the first audience at this inaugural event.
And perhaps, in time the Dundee Christmas concert will become as much an institution as the one Tele’s sister paper, the Evening Express, has run in Aberdeen for 50 years.
There, in the beautifully decorated reception of DC Thomson, Meadowside, it felt like we were a part of something very special.
It also felt like we were there to toast Dundee and the inimitable Dundonians who make our city great.
The mood took a mischievous turn when singers in their late teens from Dundee Youth Music Theatre took to the stage with their incredible renditions of songs including Santa Baby and Boogie Woogie Santa.
Musical direction was given by a very experienced Laura Pike – along with the many music teachers and staff from the schools taking part.
These included the High School of Dundee, Braeview Academy (two teenage boys performing brilliantly to an audience for the first time) and Harris Academy.
Many more took to the stage for the second concert later that day.
And seeing pupils have the chance to perform – to spread their wings, gain confidence and have their moment in the spotlight – was so heartwarming.
Better still, money raised from ticket sales will go to local schools through the paper’s Pounds for Primaries initiative.
Normal Christmas is resumed
Outside, a few remaining Santas walked by after the annual Santa Dash to raise money for Dundee Bairns.
In Slessor Gardens, the ferris wheel of Winterfest (get there, it’s brilliant) towered above a skating rink and candy floss huts.
And lo, the world – and particularly our little corner, right here in Dundee – felt normal once more.
Life will always throw us curveballs. The news will never be free of worry.
But life is made magical by the simple act of communication. Of feeling something that moves us in our souls.
I have many favourite moments from the Christmas Concert. But perhaps the most memorable was when, as youngsters from NYCOS sang their hearts out, I turned round to smile at the lady who had spoken to me at the start.
Her name was Myra. She was there with her niece Anne. And she was crying and laughing in equal measure.
Overwhelmed by the purity of these wee souls – and laughing joyously at the ridiculousness of crying and being caught in the act.
“It’s just so lovely,” she said, dabbing her hanky to her eyes.
And it really was.
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