Living Christmas Tree

Tonight is the first of three performances for this year's Living Christmas Tree presentation. This year's theme is "A 1940's Christmas Homecoming." We are using music from two other books as well. The handbells will be ringing as people enter. We (the choir) will begin the evening in our formal attire on the stage where we'll sing a few selections. Then, as the choir leaves to get ready to climb the tree, Jane Greene Johnson who used to sing with the Speer Family will sing on Friday night and Saturday night and Gerald Wolfe who is the lead singer with Greater Vision will sing on Sunday night. The choir will load the 11-tiered tree. The artificial greenery can be kind of prickly at times. There is just barely enough room for a person to fit between the front and back of each row. I understand that we have more room than a lot of churches have in theirs, but I'd sure hate to be in a tighter space than the space we have. Those who are under 6 feet tall stand on taped-up cardboard blocks that will adjust our height so that we are about 6 feet. We wear metallic capes that make us look like ornaments in the tree. This year we are wearing the gold ones. (We have some silver ones which I like better but are more prickly to wear.) There will be a drama that accompanies the music. The harmonies are very tight, as you would expect in 1940s music. The entire presentation takes an hour and a half at most. We begin working on the music in late August or early September. There are numerous bonus rehearsals. It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun. Our presentation is televised locally. DVDs are usually available later. There are over 2000 bulbs on the tree. I thought I had a picture of the tree from a previous year, but I can't seem to locate it. If I find it, I'll upload it later.