For a relaxed, uneventful weekend, this weekend was pretty busy and eventful. We weren't supposed to do anything but kick back and enjoy being home. I'm not too good at that.
Saturday I woke up early so I could clean and go to the grocery store before going to look at more houses. My husband woke up and called me, "Where are you?". By the time he made it out of bed I'd managed to do two loads of laundry, clean the kitchen, and go to two different stores.
We managed to get a layer of cat hair off of most of our belonging before heading out to look at a couple of houses. A lot of promise in one of those houses, better neighborhood, more space, BIG yard, Victorian detail...the payoff? Only one rental parking space, one mile from the T stop (bus down the street runs that way) and, of course, it's more expensive.
So I scooted off to Yoga, met 4 would be yogis and headed home with 3 of them to make Christmas cookies. This is where the confusion started. See, they thought we were going to do only one batch of cookies. Oh no no no, that's not how you do Christmas cookies. We made 3 different types in 2 hours and planned to do more but everyone was too tired to go on. Myself included.
Fortunately one friend mentioned that I'd see her tomorrow volunteering for the Revels. Good thing she mentioned it, I thought it was the NEXT Sunday. Oops.
So I grudgingly went to Sander's Theater and reported at noon as ordered. It was worth it. Free $54 ticket for an hour of CD sales before hand, during intermission, and a little while after the show. I always wonder what I should do during intermission anyway.
The Revels themselves are difficult to explain. A mix between choral performances, short skits, dances, sing-a-longs, and stories. The group is thematic and includes adults and children and is focused on celebrating the changing of the seasons. This performance, called Christmas Revels, celebrated Christmas/Solstice traditions of Shakers, Appalachia, Southern Gospel, and Native Americans. You wouldn't think they'd all fit together, and at times I thought they could have pulled one or two songs out, but overall they melded it all together better than you would think.
Something I noticed from the Summer Sing-A-Long is that they focus on similarities between cultures. This performance was no different, they looked at the Cheery Tree (Shaker), the Tree of Life (Native America), the Christmas Tree (Appalachia ) with a message that the darkness/coldness can never fully drive out goodness/warmth. There is always hope for the future. Of course they did this while also intermixing several traditional Christmas songs as well. Christ was portrayed as the hope of the world by Christian traditions as Native American songs showed family as that same light of hope. It was well done.
The whole thing made me want to sing again. I want to dance again. I decided right then and there I'd go to Contra dance on Thursday. Too bad I woke up this morning and realized I'll be in New York that evening to visit a New Mexico friend who'll be visiting.
2 comments:
What friend from NM will be visiting you in NY over Christmas?
Thea will be in NYC from the evening of the 16th until the 19th. We're having our Christmas party on the 19th so I'll leave for NYC early on the 17th and come back on the evening of the 18th. I've booked a B&B in Brooklyn for a pretty good rate. I didn't really feel like going anywhere but Thea getting to the east coast is not a regular event.
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