The Living Christmas Tree 2012

Thursday night my family and I ventured out to First Baptist Church on Governor's Drive in Huntsville to enjoy The Living Christmas Tree concert. This year's show was titled Star of Wonder, and a lot of the songs focused on the star that shone when Jesus was born. Obviously a lot of people celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas; I, however do not. I believe the date of Jesus' birth is unknown and therefore do not celebrate it at Christmastime, or any time for that matter.

My friend Denny's parents sing in the Tree and he got me six tickets a few weeks ago. I had gotten an extra pair in case my parents wanted to invite a couple of their friends. They didn't want to invite anyone so I gave two tickets to a girl at work who went with her cousin. That left me with four tickets for me, Justin and my parents. Justin was leading his first AA meeting and so he was unable to attend and then, my mom backed out because she had been at the hospital during the day while my granddad had a heart cath. So, it ended up being just me and my dad - can't really say that was a surprising turn of events.

The concert started at 7:30, which ended up being a shock to my dad and I because I thought it started at 7:00 and had told him to meet me there at 6:30. When I got there and saw my dad was by himself, I turned in our other two tickets so that someone else could use them. We found a seat close to the front and waited for the show to start.Beginning at 7:00, the orchestra began playing music to entertain us while we were waiting for the concert.

A few minutes before 7:30, the minister greeted us and soon after the concert began. In addition to the choir and orchestra, a group called SlipJig also performed and they were wonderful. One guy played the violin, another played the guitar (though sometimes he played a wind instrument as well) and the third guy played some sort of flute type instrument and some sort of bag pipes that you didn't have to blow into. I have no idea what these strange instruments are called, but the combination of them all sounded really great. This is a Celtic/Irish type band and they were one of the best parts of the show and the part my dad liked the best I think.

I really enjoyed this year's program. The only part I did not enjoy was the dancer. They had some girl that is originally from Huntsville and is a trained ballerina perform a couple of dances which were just completely stupid. I personally found it to be inappropriate for someone to be dancing around while the choir was singing of the Savior's birth. It also seemed really out of place and was distracting and quite frankly made me a little uncomfortable.After speaking with the girl from work about last night's show, she and her cousin had been of the same opinion of the dancer and my dad also said that they could have done without the dancer. So, First Baptist, if you're reading this, ditch the dancer. She did not go over well with the folks I know.

The show lasted about an hour and a half and as mentioned, I really enjoyed it. I got caught up in the moment a couple of times and felt like leaping out of my seat and whistling; but, one I don't know how to whistle and two, people probably would have thought I was crazy. I'm not sure my dad enjoyed the show. He kept looking at his program and checking his Blackberry throughout the show and during the next to the last song he was like, let's get out of here. I told him to go on, but he didn't. He did leave during the last applause and tried to get me to go as well. I, however, was enjoying myself and in no hurry to rush through the night and wanted to take my time leaving. So, he finally left my himself and I left when everyone else did. I don't really know why he was concerned with me leaving at the same time as him. We didn't park anywhere near each other. It's not like I needed him to drive me home.

I got home at precisely 9:21 and text Denny to let him know I had enjoyed the show. The Living Christmas Tree has five more performances on the docket. They are Friday, December 14 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, December 15 at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday December 16 at 3:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. The 3:00 p.m. show on Sunday is abbreviated for children and the show on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. will be interpreted in sign language.

If you have time this weekend and are looking for something to do, check out The Living Christmas Tree. It's free to the public and is a really enjoyable show. The concert will also be aired on Sunday, December 16 at noon on WHNT Channel 19. For additional information regarding The Living Christmas Tree, please click here.