Getting Into the Christmas Spirit

An invitation to dinner at a friend's home turned out to be one beautiful evening in a beautifully decorated home. She had every corner in her home decorated in Christmas trees, twinkling lights, angels (even in the bathroom), a manger, plus every room had some holiday item! Her décor was all holiday, even the pear salad. She served cinnamon tea in Santa Claus cups. A lasagna dinner was tasty and dessert of a non-carb yogurt and raspberries hit the spot! For each one of her guests, she gave a small bag of Peppermint Bark.

We then drove to the Arvada United Methodist Church for a delightful evening of singing by the Arvada Chorale. Joy and Delight! A Celebration of Christmas Past and Present. A tremendous program with voices that can be made to sound like musical instruments. Many of the selections I had never heard yet that did not keep me from enjoying the singing. The piano accompanist, Chappell Kingsland, played Christmas music on the piano before the Chorale entered the stage and took their positions. They were all in black with a corsage of sparkling evergreen branches with and red flowers. Very festive! This is the third year that I have attended these concerts directed by Marla Wasson and she is an energetic conductor that makes the singing exciting and fun!

I enjoyed all the selections, but I did have two favorites. One was Betelehemu, an African folk tune, that featured drums along with the peppy singing. The other was the Hallelujah Chorus made up of robed monks who held up signs and three cherubs dancing around. A funny piece was I'm a mean One, I'm the Grinch by a character in costume. Another group (Safonia), consisting of all women, entertained the audience with holiday music.

The ending of the program was a sing-a-long ending with Silent Night. It was an evening full of Christmas joy and I saw about twelve persons in the audience from Spirit of Christ Catholic Community. We come to hear the chorale and to see the one member from our church who sings with the Chorale.

Sunday completed the trilogy of Christmas fun. I joined about seventy Young At Heart members to enjoy the musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the Arvada Center.

Coat of many colors!

What a creative mind to take a Bible story and make it into an entertaining musical spanning many eras! The music was spectacular and not a one line was spoken. It was one song after another by the talented actors. That in itself was amazing but when the colorful sets were added, it was an extravaganza of color, lights, sparkles, and dancing! Joseph's coat was of many colors that turned into a rainbow when he spun around. Shepherds, cellular phones, Elvis Presley, a camel on wheels,  country dancing, French singers in black berets and striped shirts, and a calypso samba-like dance under palm trees were all in the musical and helped convey the interesting and humorous story.

The first act went by so fast with all the action that I was surprised it was intermission time. I took the time to take pictures of some of the persons from The Young At Heart group of Spirit of Christ Catholic Community.

After the exciting performance a few of us went to eat at Pho 64 and enjoyed conversing about DNA, ethnic groups, the Silent Spring book, Vietnam War, food and other topics of interest. All I can say is that the weekend was full of wonderful friendships, great music and holiday cheer!

"Enjoy life. There's plenty

of time to be dead."

Hans Christian Andersen