Christmas, is calling you home🙂

This weekend, I had the privilege of watching my image appear in the background during the annual Purdue Christmas Show, right after the Santa reveal! I have known about the Show for a few years through family & friends but it was unlike anything I expected.

To call the show (& experience) remarkable would be a gross understatement.

The Show has been going on now for 85 years and to be able to play a role (however small) in ringing in the Christmas spirit, was really special.

I got to watch the show not once, but twice. Friday I went down pretty much solely to make the picture you see above. Saturday my mom and dad joined me. What happened, was I discovered the Show and realized the picture was the least important part.

The whole show is awesome. The incredible number of ways they use light and sound mixed together, both ambient and vocal — gives you goosebumps. The performance using the bells was my favorite. (if you went, you’ll know what I mean) I don’t know the technicalities of it, but it seems like everyone has a different sounding bell and when played together in unison they make a musical note. How they keep that mental rhythm and know when to each play their part is magic. Using things like a table and other instruments to affect the ring of the bell, dampening it, cutting it short — its just so cool to watch.

Throughout the performance, I thought to myself repeatedly: had I missed seeing the photo? Oh no, I probably missed it. But then it appeared right at the end of Act 1, about 90 minutes in. Santa came in from the rafters, landed in an astronaut suit, changed into a black/gold santa suit and my picture faded in. (a voice rang out in my head: “hey idiot, press the shutter button before you really DO miss it”)

I *could* *not* believe it.

At the time, it was quite challenging to describe how I felt, so I didn’t. I just cried.

For the first time in awhile, it was a happy one.

The past few months have been quite rough, personally. Break ups suck.

I realized that it might not necessarily Christmas doing it, but I too had been called home, in a way. Called back to my roots at Purdue and reminded — this is where it all started for me professionally.