In a simple Advent tradition, I tucked myself into a corner of the high school gym with my family. We sat near the top of the bleachers, and I constantly stretched my back to account for the cold, hard plastic. The music reverberated off cinder-block walls and hardwood floors.

Years ago, the school band director would ask me to say a few words as introduction to the annual Christmas concert. I was a young principal back then and believed that people would hold onto my message and have multiple takeaways from my comments. Mind you, this was an intro to a high school band concert--not a lesson, not an awards ceremony--a 30-second intro.

Ah, youth's vanity.

Yet I'd spend time trying to find the right way to describe the moment.