This Year's Christmas Card - 2006
This year we are having an “Our Lady of Perpetual Christmas” Christmas because there are 5 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. While the retailers love it, part of me would really like an end to it given that the decorations and television ads started before Halloween. I am a tad "Christmased" out, and there are still 2 weeks to go!!! The result of this overdose of ho-ho was an exhausted case of writer’s block when trying to find a topic for “This Year’s Christmas Card” blog. No inspiration, just “when is it going to be spring”.
To add to my physical exhaustion, the community chorus in which I sing had its Christmas programs this past weekend. Seraphim is a chorus of 50 people who love to sing, making a joyful noise every Monday night. The chorus does its Christmas program twice, once in Youngstown, the chorus home base, and once in New Castle, PA, at the home church of the director. The New Castle program is physically taxing as it is performed on pull out bleachers which are difficult to stand on (not much room), and even more difficult to climb up (think Mt. Everest with deep holes). To be honest, most of us are on the down hill side of middle age, and a few are even at the bottom of the hill. A whole week of rehearsals makes the whole thing even less palatable. By the performance dates, I am longing for a hot tub or Florida or both.
But when the last performance was done on Sunday afternoon, I had some time think about the events of the past 2 weeks of show preparation. One thing came shining through. Because I was extremely proud of the year’s program, I invited some of my friends from my old college organization and my church to hear this year’s concert. I didn’t think many would actually come as we all have many other responsibilities and things to do this time of year. But as I lined up with the chorus in the front of the beautiful Scandinavian-modern church that served as this year’s venue, I looked out into the audience and there were my friends scattered throughout, smiling and clapping and lending a strong dose of support.
And in the chorus itself, standing to my left was my new friend, T.C., and to my right was my other new friend, Richard. Both of these gentlemen, for their own various reasons, recently retired to the Mahoning Valley, an area most people usually move “from” rather than “to”. We are "The Three Baritones", and over the course of rehearsals and drives to and from New Castle, we have gotten to know each other.
What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than singing beautiful music in a beautiful setting, surrounded by old and new friends. The older we become, the more important old friends and new friends are to all of us. How often do we forget what just being together means to us? Good friends are hard to come by. So for “This Year’s Christmas Card”, I offer to you your friends, both old and new, and will throw in your family for good measure. May you, and we, all be able to gather together in a good place while doing good things...even listening to some beautiful Christmas music. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!!!!
To add to my physical exhaustion, the community chorus in which I sing had its Christmas programs this past weekend. Seraphim is a chorus of 50 people who love to sing, making a joyful noise every Monday night. The chorus does its Christmas program twice, once in Youngstown, the chorus home base, and once in New Castle, PA, at the home church of the director. The New Castle program is physically taxing as it is performed on pull out bleachers which are difficult to stand on (not much room), and even more difficult to climb up (think Mt. Everest with deep holes). To be honest, most of us are on the down hill side of middle age, and a few are even at the bottom of the hill. A whole week of rehearsals makes the whole thing even less palatable. By the performance dates, I am longing for a hot tub or Florida or both.
But when the last performance was done on Sunday afternoon, I had some time think about the events of the past 2 weeks of show preparation. One thing came shining through. Because I was extremely proud of the year’s program, I invited some of my friends from my old college organization and my church to hear this year’s concert. I didn’t think many would actually come as we all have many other responsibilities and things to do this time of year. But as I lined up with the chorus in the front of the beautiful Scandinavian-modern church that served as this year’s venue, I looked out into the audience and there were my friends scattered throughout, smiling and clapping and lending a strong dose of support.
And in the chorus itself, standing to my left was my new friend, T.C., and to my right was my other new friend, Richard. Both of these gentlemen, for their own various reasons, recently retired to the Mahoning Valley, an area most people usually move “from” rather than “to”. We are "The Three Baritones", and over the course of rehearsals and drives to and from New Castle, we have gotten to know each other.
What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than singing beautiful music in a beautiful setting, surrounded by old and new friends. The older we become, the more important old friends and new friends are to all of us. How often do we forget what just being together means to us? Good friends are hard to come by. So for “This Year’s Christmas Card”, I offer to you your friends, both old and new, and will throw in your family for good measure. May you, and we, all be able to gather together in a good place while doing good things...even listening to some beautiful Christmas music. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!!!!
Comments
SK
A blessed Christmas.