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CHRISTMAS IN STYLE

                                                  HOLIDAY CONCERT
                                               

On Saturday afternoon two friends from my Book Club and I attended a Holiday Concert that was being presented by The Arvada Chorale  One of the performers was another member of our Book Club--it was a Holiday Concert entitled Christmas in Style  The Chorale is presenting 3 concerts throughout the year and this was the first in the series--I had attended a concert last year and thought I knew what to expect and while I had enjoyed the previous concert I was surprised by this one--Special Guests were the Park Hill Brass, a group of jazz musicians; the group is composed of 10 members, 5 of whom were the ensemble for that afternoon's concert  Their instruments were two trumpets, a tuba, a trombone and one French horn-- The music they performed consisted of Fanfare on Joy to the World, I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing in and *Il est ne le Divin Enfant/Carol of the Bells--The Chorale and Brass then combined to perform A Little Jazz Mass written by Bob Chilcott--I have since learned that Chilcott is a British Choral composer, singer and conductor well known for his compositions for children's Choirs--I was impressed by the Music Director, a woman with short, spiky hair who obviously had a good sense of humor and an awareness of the serious side of life--she approached the music with passion and creativity--I read in the program notes that in 2005 she formed a women's chamber ensemble who "are dedicated to the synergy of music, passion and excellence" The Chorale Accompanist was a multi-talented musician, as well as a teacher and composer

The Chorale then took center stage and performed Christmas Time is Here and It's a Wonderful Christmas including Because It's Christmas (For All the Children) which had all three of us wiping tears from our eyes because it was so beautifully done and the powerful emotions raised by the words of that song were not ones of sadness but at least for me one of wistfulness and hope for a better world--The mood was lightened by the rendition of Calypso Christmas and finally The Twelve Days of Christmas Confusion, a comedic rendition of The Twelve Days of Christmas complete with props of palm trees, partridges, boar's head on a platter, funny hats and twinkling lights--it was choreographed chaos and left everyone laughing and ready for refreshments and intermission! After this interlude the Chorale and Brass combined to perform Big Band Santa, God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and a heartfelt Mary Did You Know? which had us wiping tears from our eyes again--The Park Hill Brass then had us bobbing our heads and tapping our feet to Sleigh Ride and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer  The Brass and Chorale combined once again to give a lively rendition of Go Tell It--Finally the Music Director asked  us all to wish for peace and to join them in Silent Night--another powerful moment--After much applause the Brass and Chorale left the stage, leaving us talking and expressing our surprise and pleasure at such a wonderful concert--what a wonderful addition to the holiday season  Several days later we are still talking about it and feeling the warmth and joy of the season!

"Because It's Christmas"
(Written by Barry Manilow)

Unto us a son is given
Unto us a son is given
Unto us a son is given
Unto us a child is born
Tonight the stars shine for the children
And light the way for dreams to fly
Tonight our love comes wrapped in ribbons
The world is right
And hopes are high
And from a dark
And frosted window
A child appears
To search the sky

Because it's Christmas
Because it's Christmas
Tonight belongs to all the children
Tonight their joy rings through the air
And so we send our tender blessings
To all the children everywhere
To see the smiles and hear the laughter
A time to give
A time to share

Because it's Christmas
For now and forever
For all of the children
And for the children in us all
Tonight belongs to all the children
Tonight their joy rings through the air
And so we send our tender blessings
To all the children everywhere
To see the smiles and hear the laughter
A time to give
A time to share

Because it's Christmas
For now and forever
For all of the children
And for the children in us


 *He is born, the divine Child    


See also spongefullofthoughts @.blogspot .com --A Jazzy Christmas                    

A New Holiday Tradition is Born?

Dundee Cake and Tea

Several weeks ago on a traditional family shopping trip to World Market (Cost Plus), I purchased an Iced Fruit Cake for my husband (he is one of the few people I know who loves fruit cake); there were many other types of cakes one of which was a Dundee Cake--I was intrigued by it but did not buy it as I was not sure my Fruit Cake Lover would like it--Several days later I read somewhere that it was a tradition to have a slice of Dundee Cake with a cup of tea on December 6th--I thought it was interesting that I had just seen the cake at World Market and wished that I had bought it--A week or so later I was talking to a friend and told her about our family tradition of shopping at World Market, she commented, "oh I love that place"! I suggested we go there as well as the Barnes and Noble that was next door to World Market in the shopping center (she was thinking of buying a book for her son--in-law)--I had planned to buy some more Christmas presents at World Market, so it made sense that I bought a Dundee Cake while I was there! An idea began to form in mind to plan a Tea featuring Dundee Cake--December 6th was fast approaching  so I e-mailed a friend who loves to entertain at her house and asked if she would like to host a tea for several friends and fellow Book Club members; she graciously consented but asked that I arrange the details by contacting our friends--everyone said they could attend even though it was rather short notice--I just planned on Dundee Cake and tea, but some others brought cookies, mints and the host made fudge and what we think of as traditional fruit cake, and added a plate of "Little Cuties" (Clementines) 

Our host decorated her house elegantly for the holidays and had a fire burning in her fireplace when we arrived--It was warm and cozy and we all enjoyed sitting in front of the fire chatting for a time--We then adjourned to the adjoining dining room where the table was filled with tea mugs, plates of sweets and a white and also red polka-dot teapots--One friend commented that she wanted to watch while another made the loose leaf tea,so a lesson in tea making was given after which we sat down to enjoy the sweet repast--There was much talk and laughter all around the table; pictures were taken to commemorate the occasion and as we all started to leave we thanked our host for sharing her home and all agreed that it was a fun way to start off our holiday season--and so hopefully a new tradition for our group was born!

Making tea

Tea is Ready

Sweets

I have tried to remember where I read that Dundee Cake was traditionally eaten on December 6th, but try as I might I have been unable to find it again---

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dundee cake

Type	Fruit cake
Place of origin	Scotland
Creator	Keiller's marmalade
Main ingredients	Currants, sultanas and almonds

Dundee cake is a famous traditional Scottish fruit cake with a rich flavour.^[1][2]

The cake is often made with currants, sultanas and almonds; sometimes, fruit peel may be added to it. The cake originated in nineteenth-century Scotland, and was originally made as a mass-produced cake by the marmalade company called Keiller's. Keiller's marmalade company first produced the cake commercially and have been claimed to be the originators of the term "Dundee cake".^{[citation needed]} However, similar fruit cakes were produced across Scotland. A popular story is that Mary Queen of Scots did not like glace cherries in her cakes, so the cake was first made for her, as a fruit cake that used blanched almonds and not cherries.^[3] The top of the cake is typically decorated with concentric circles of almonds. Today, the cakes are often sold in supermarkets throughout the United Kingdom.

The cake was also made and marketed in British India, and in independent India after 1947, by Britannia Industries and its predecessor firms. However, after 1980 the cake was withdrawn from the market though it continued to be supplied privately as a corporate Christmas gift by the maker.

**The cake I purchased was not the traditional round cake, but a small l loaf--see :

spongefullofthoughts.blogspot.com 

Bad Blogger??

Birds of a Feather Don't Always Flock Together

Originally the idea for this blog was that Baby Bird and I would each blog, sometimes agreeing with each other, sometimes disagreeing with each other, but always expressing our own opinion about a subject--Somewhere along the line early on Baby Bird fell off the wire, so not only not flocking together but not blogging together! Agreed she's very busy with teaching other little birds and spending time with the Grand Baby Birds (who are really no longer Babies) and a Husband, dog and friends--not to mention household chores, grocery shopping and on and on--So Mama Bird finds herself blogging alone and has not been very good or consistent about it--even though we are definitely not flocking together, I find myself having trouble blogging alone since the idea was to have someone to bounce ideas around with--my Pre New Year's Resolution will be to try to be more consistent and re-direct my focus to flying solo while finding topics at least moderately interesting to blog about