“Hurry up, hurry up, we don’t want to be late!” cried Marinette. “They’re expecting us to arrive promptly at seven o’clock. Hurry up!”
Maria sighed. She had been picked to sing the solo in a highly publicized concert and so far, had been practicing day and night.
She had singing and speech instructors and Marinette herself had given quite a few lessons on presenting herself in public.
Maria grabbed the last things that she’d need, then jumped out the door while Marinette was reminding her to hurry.
“I think we’ll make it just in time!” Marinette announced happily as Maria and she made themselves comfortable in the car.
The car was going to take them to their dress rehearsal, where Maria was going to practice with an orchestra and a backup choir.
After the rehearsal, Maria was going to sit through an unpleasant hour of wardrobe and makeup sessions. She wasn’t looking forward to this.
After she was ready, Maria was going to make a big speech and have interviews on live TV in Times Square. Her stomach squirmed with nerves when she thought of this.
Then just before midnight, she was expected to sing a couple of Christmas Carols to an enormous crowd of people, not to mention the TV cameras, then sing the final song as they slipped into Christmas Day…
“What do you think?” Marinette said, which brought Maria out of her thoughts. “Huh?” Maria asked. Marinette huffed.
“I was asking,” she snapped. “What do you think of the stage design for tonight. You’ll be right in front, with the orchestra in the pit and the singers behind you, spread out to make you shine all the more…”
“Oh, yes. I think it will be wonderful.” Maria lied. She couldn’t care less about the stage arrangements. She felt like she was going to throw up. Why had she auditioned to do this?
The car zoomed along, passing building after building, with the lights from shops or billboards nearly blinding them as the sky grew dark.
“Say, Maria, do you remember the schedule for tonight? You will go straight from rehearsal to makeup, from makeup to the interviews, and then you’ll finally have one last run-through before the show! Make sure you remember all of that…”
But Maria was no longer listening. She was looking out of the small window, reminiscing about previous Christmases. Her family would spend Christmas Eve with family from out of town, having a small feast, drinking cocoa, and singing, until her relatives had to leave in the afternoon.
When they left, her father would turn on a couple Christmas movies that they would watch until time for a small dinner.
After dinner, they would gather around the tree to sing some carols, read about the birth of Christ, and then open one present before bed.
The present would always be pajamas. That way when they woke up the next morning, they could wear the pajamas all day long.
After breakfast, they would head back to the tree. In no time at all Maria and her three brothers and two sisters would rip their wrappings off of their gifts, dig through their stockings, and impress Mom and Dad with their gifts to them.
Maria loved her family’s traditions, but she hadn’t been able to do any of them this year. For the past week, she had been getting ready for this concert and hadn’t visited her family.
When Maria left the car, Marinette reminded her, “Big smiles, Maria, everyone is excited for you!” before escorting her into the hotel where she would be rehearsing.
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