Tim's Choir Show

I was in choir throughout high school, and Christmas music always helped to get me into the mood for the holidays. We began early, usually around the beginning of the school year, so by the time our concert came in December, I was very ready.

My friend and co-worker Tim is part of a local choir that does a Christmas show each year. He tries in vain to get me to join, but I enjoy seeing them perform without having to do all of the prep-work. And they do put in a lot of prep-work. They have practice twice a week for months before the show, which is a lot of dedication for someone who also works full time.

This year their show was called “Follow That Star.” The first half featured religious music which was slower with a more typical choir presentation. The performers wore black clothes with colorful scarves or ties around their necks. They sang with their music books open while

standing on risers and didn't move very much. The second half was more animated with a few little skits and basic dance steps thrown in. One man dressed like Santa and he added a lot of humor to the show. Another standout entertainer was a woman dressed like an elf who threw in lots of elf noises between stanzas. I was slightly disappointed that there were so few solos, and I would have enjoyed more movement throughout the show instead of just during the second half, but it was still an enjoyable show.

RADIO: Cinnamon Bear “Candy Pirates”, Jump Jump and the Ice Queen “unknown title”, Jonathan Thomas andhis Christmas on the Moon “Whiskery Bill the Squirrel”

MOVIE: I love Love Actually, and I know a lot of women will agree with me. It is a chick-flick set at Christmastime, but it is an excellently rendered film that men can enjoy too. (You can sucker them in by telling them Liam Neeson from Taken is in it; you won't be lying!) This film examines a variety of relationships which exist between people who are all connected in a six degrees of Kevin Bacon kind of way. It shows love for what it is, a complicated, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes wonderful, sometimes unexpected, sometimes waning experience that plays out differently for everyone but which is always around us everywhere we go. 

There are so many amazing moments in this film, but I don't want

to ruin any of them for you. The music is great, the cast is outstanding, and Love Actually is a classic holiday movie that you must see at least once. It is currently available on streaming Netflix, so if you haven't already watched it this year, do so soon!  

SONG: “Up on the Housetop” by Gene Autry

When I was in kindergarten and first grade, I went to Robinwood Elementary School, which closed before I could enter the second grade. At that school we had an annual Christmas concert and all of the children were involved, not just the kids in choir. I got my first solo in a song called “A Wonderful Christmas Tree,” but a song I really enjoyed but don’t hear very often was "Up on the Housetop," a cute song about Santa that should be better known.

GIFT MEMORY: One day when my family and I were shopping for gifts at Media Play, my dad

stumbled upon a DVD for a film called Black Sabbath. His eyes got wide and he said, "Is this what I think it is?" After reading the back, his suspicions were confirmed; this was the movie that used to scare the crap out of his brother Kajun as a kid! Even though it had a big price tag for a gag gift, he went ahead and bought it. On Christmas Eve, Kajun looked shocked and still somewhat frightened to see the film as he unwrapped it, proclaiming, "This has Old Scary Lady in it!" His wife Roni laughed as they told the story of forcing Kajun to watch the movie late at night, knowing it would give him nightmares, and the decrepit old woman in it that scared him most of all.