Winslow and Jerome (touring with PJ, June 4-8)

PJ and I took a delightful tour of Northern Arizona June 4-8.

Saturday, June 4

We hadn't driven the Beeline Highway for many years - spectacular scenery.

Stopped at the Tonto Natural Bridge State Park (enroute to Winslow). Some photos in the slideshow, plus video below. This was surprisingly entertaining - though for some reason, we had low expectations. Arrived around 11:30a -brilliant sunshine, temp in upper 70s, perfect. Nice trails, decent exercise. Very dramatic (by our standards) working our way through the rocks and creek under the bridge itself.



Then lunch on the patio at something called the Rimrock Grill in Pine, Arizona (about five miles up the road from the Tonto turn-off). Odell IPA on tap. Hit the spot, and then some.

Then onto Winslow. We had our misgivings about spending time in Winslow, but had seen positive reviews about the La Posada Hotel and its restaurant - the Turquoise Room (plus a feature on some TV travel show). So we booked two nights in what must be the best available room (242) - about the only room with a small balcony, with the room just open in a newly-remodeled section of the hotel, overlooking the front entry, new gardens and plantings, etc.

La Posada is a delight - we were thrilled with our stay there. I don't know how they do it - every detail is thought through carefully and then executed to perfection. It's almost overwhelming trying to take in everything they're up to. Descriptions available via the hotel website and plenty of other online review sites.

My stab at a quick description: The place would be delightful if it were just the hotel with restaurant. But then there all these additional layers that make the experience so rewarding. Architecture by Mary Colter (we're familiar with her for Grand Canyon work) - this hotel is intended to be patterned on a traditional hacienda, and it really works. Supposedly her favorite project. Santa Fe RR history. Harvey Hotels. Harvey Girls (still use the uniforms in the restaurant). 1930s and 1940s hot spot - TWA stopover in addition to the trains. Rapid decline after WWII; converted to lowly RR offices, treasures auctioned off or sent to dump. City of Winslow in rapid decline after a bright start. Renovation of the hotel starts. Associated artists, starting with renovator's wife. Tinsmith. Gardener. Turquoise Room. Painstaking restoration, new elements. Gorgeous public spaces consume so much of the hotel - how does this make $? Freight trains passing through constantly - a plus, enhances the atmosphere, evocative RR sounds. With Winslow still struggling - this gem in a tough area.

The restaurant is ridiculously good. PJ stuck with the prime rib and filet at dinner on our two nights and was well rewarded; I had elk medallions with some sort of black currant reduction on Saturday, then the MVP dinner on Sunday (quail, elk medallion with some other treatment, tamale with bison). Somehow the chef incorporates all sorts of native elements, fresh local ingredients, delightful meats. And this is in Winslow!! Breakfasts and lunches also just a delight.

Also on Saturday: we walked into downtown Winslow. Not a good sign when the best attraction is based on a 1970s Eagles tune (per photo stream).

Sunday, June 5

Three delightful meals at Turquoise Room, per above. Warm weather. Visited Homolovi Ruins State Park. This isn't terribly interesting - or maybe it is, after all. Incredible site overlooking the Little Colorado River. Open, desolate territory. Lots of unauthorized digging on the sites as folks sought pottery in prior years.

Spent much of the afternoon and early evening relaxing around the La Posada property - too much to look at, will need to go back. Also spent some time driving around Winslow neighborhoods, which was interesting.

In addition to meal description above: had two of their famous appetizers with Sunday dinner. A Hopi woman makes a traditional "piki" bread that is indescribably light. Not possible to re-create. The chef also has a squash blossom appetizer that is just delightful.

Monday, June 6

More time hanging around La Posada for breakfast, etc. Found a book for me and a really nice bracelet for PJ at the gift shop. Reluctantly checked out.

Lunch at the very-well-reviewed Tinderbox Restaurant in Flagstaff (less than an hour west of Winslow). Cool, breezy, delightful in Flagstaff. We walked the downtown area - which merits further exploration. Bought a six pack of Lumberyard IPA at the brewery.

Then drove down 89A through Sedona to Jerome (yet another spectacular drive), where we stayed two nights at the Jerome Grand Hotel. Walked the town a bit after checking in; enjoyed the view and a drink from our patio (per photo stream); dinner at Asylum in the hotel. Perfect weather.

Tuesday, June 7

Breakfast at Quince. Then to the Woodchute Trail (10 or so miles south of Jerome), got there around 11:00a or so. PJ was talking about going all the way to the lookout point (about 4.5 miles one way from where we parked) - and she meant it. I think she scampers rather than hikes. Conditions were just delightful, the payoff views can't be beat. This was fun. Lunch at Grape per usual; then mostly relaxed at the room until dinner at Asylum.

We're a little concerned with the Jerome Hotel and Asylum - not progressing. Or maybe it was an unfair comparison after what we experienced in Winslow.

Wednesday, June 8

Breakfast at Flatiron Cafe in Jerome - nice. Walked the shops awhile in Jerome - nice. Decided we needed to continue our pattern of lunch in a different town every day - went up to Sedona after checking out of the hotel. But we didn't have great luck finding a lunch place and ended up at the Oak Creek brewery location in Tlaquepaque. Which was ok. Walked around Sedona a bit, then worked our way home. But not before stopping at BJ's at Desert Ridge for dinner around 7:30p, where we had surprisingly good food and a nice conclusion to our trip.

I do enjoy traveling with PJ. This was a great trip, with Winslow the best part.

Palo verdes in front of house

Three palo verdes in front of the house. Almost three years old. Already throwing lots of shade.

And they look particularly fine when flowering. Photos taken in May 2011.

Iowa trip (May 19-23)

PJ and I traveled to Iowa - primary motivation for the timing of this trip was the graduation of Tom and Kieran Cullen from Storm Lake High (what with PJ being Kieran's godmother).

We had a delightful time of it, per usual. Here's what happened:

Thursday, May 19 - flew into Omaha, picked up rental car, drove up to St. Joe in time for supper. This was a pretty quiet evening - caught up on everything, put together plans for a busy Friday, etc. Did go over to Dick Erpelding's for some rhubarb (which I cut up for pie) and radishes (which PJ and EMG polished off for dinner).



Friday, May 20 - Went to Mass at 7:50a, chattered with the crowd after. Cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Went to Maggie B's for lunch shortly after 11a - partly because it's tasty, partly because the place is closing permanently next week so this was the last hurrah. Then to Clarence & Caroline's - very enjoyable sitting around talking about various topics. Caroline was up and around, which we understand to be an improvement from recent months. We didn't play any 500, but Clarence served drinks (and made us a loaf of bread). They were talking about personalities of and occurrences involving various of the relatives, including my grandparents; old-days stuff about gardening, cooking, food storage, food (un)availability (no spaghetti, for example), on and on. One of the highlights of the trip.

After some deliberation we decided to drive over to Alton, Iowa for the annual Luxembourg Mass celebration over there. This was a pretty big commitment - 2+ hour drive, very unsettled weather. But ended up being a very pleasant outing. Made it through lots of rain in time for the Mass - which was held indoors rather than at the site of the original church (now a small cemetery a few miles outside of town). Our group constituted four of the nine attendees. After Mass there was a gathering at something called "Pizza Ranch" in nearby Orange City (odd name: American/Italian food on a "ranch"??) Can't say I'd select this type of restaurant very often, but it fit the bill nicely. Chatted with the attendees for a long time, primarily Fr. Paul Eisele and some Luxembourg-connected deacon named Rick Roder. Long trip back through lots of rain, then we sat and decompressed a bit before going to bed.

Saturday, May 21 - power outage in the morning, even though the weather was pretty mild. Cecilia and Therese arrived from Minnesota for lunch. Mass at 5p - we were ready for the (erroneously) predicted "Rapture" at this point. Very enjoyable sitting around and talking, I think we were ready for a lower-key day. Even sat around on the patio for awhile, which was a nice place to have a Boulevard pale ale (which we found on last year's trip to Kansas City).

Sunday, May 22 -Graduation day. Best weather of the trip, which was nice. Storm Lake High was fascinating - reflecting the meat-packing town - Hispanic, Sudanese, Asian, some white. I have a pretty bad attitude about code words like diversity, multicultural etc - typically employed in seeking government preference and primarily serving to divide - but here's a town where it's all happening in real time. No doubt there are plenty of problems in dealing with all this, but graduation day was quite wonderful (the Sudanese had the best clothes and were the most demonstrative). Dolores and Art hosted a very nice gathering at the house - great food and turnout - and it was interesting to hear Tom and Kieran's college plans. Steve came over from Mason City so we had a pretty good representation. Nice drive back to St. Joe on a beautiful evening while we recapped the day.





Monday, May 23 - travel day. Cecilia and Therese were off to the Twin Cities early (in Therese's case, after she and Grandma raided the Erpelding rhubarb patch). PJ and I sat around chatting with Grandpa and Grandma, including entertaining ourselves by watching a robin feed its baby perched on the patio rail. Patricia received a tour of Grandpa's self-built exercise facility (in the basement), including the latest addition (which relies on a 35 year old cut up truck tire inner tube). It frightens me a bit to admit that he appears to benefit from using this (probably dangerous) equipment.

Then off to Omaha and a smooth trip back to Arizona.

We'll look forward to our next midwest tour.

NMG-POC wedding - some photos

I'm told (and believe) that there are lots of great photos from various photographers taken at the NMG-POC wedding back on March 25.

I'm also grateful to have picked up photos from my dad and brother (Charlie) on March 27, or I might still be waiting to see any photos at all.

So - while I wait for more - here is a set of photos, with captions, that walks through at least part of the story. For full-screen viewing, click on any photo, click "slideshow" in upper left, then hit F11 . . .

90 years old today

As discussed here; it was fun to obtain the factory certification.

Not sure of the future for this old piano - the lowest C sharp note is a repair problem. We also think the action needs to be redone if we wish to continue using this piano. Expensive; probably worth it; time will tell.

Unfortunately, the gentleman that helped us in 2009 unexpectedly died last year. Among (many) other things, he was talking about how Steinway pianos outlive their owners.

Very interesting, if promotional, Steinway book discussed here; the related TV program was surprisingly good.

Photos (top featuring Kerry) from 1994.

Peckvillercher

The Luxembourg knick-knack market is not nearly as well-developed as that of some other European countries. I don't think there are all that many items that folks here in the U.S. generally associate with the Grand Duchy.

Which makes it all the nicer that Patricia followed up with our (extended) family's #1 contact in Luxembourg - one Claude Lanners - to improve our supply of Peckvillerchers here in Arizona. My parents have given us a few over the years, but the quality of those available via the Wisconsin Luxembourg fest seems to have diminished.

Peckvillerchers are delightful little whistles shaped like birds - associated with a Luxembourg town where leftovers at the clay works were used to make them. Now associated with Easter. To operate: just blow in the tail.

Claude knows his Peckvillerchers - as we have learned (through a link he provided to this website) - the town of Nospelt is the traditional supplier of these delightful little whistles, and hosts a festival annually on Easter Monday.

Top photo shows our four treasures (as always, click photo to enlarge).

Bottom photo - one example - each is marked with "11" (which I'll boldly guess refers to "2011") and with the name of the town of Nospelt. (Photographer's Easter-themed prop described here.)

We're grateful to have these . . . perhaps future generations will appreciate also?

More on Claude to come in a future post.

Here's Nospelt:


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Choral Union spring 2011

CPG 'n me finished year six in ASU Choral Union. More of a mixture of performance opportunities this spring than in most prior semesters. So that was nice.

April 29 - combined choirs - we did three songs on our own and then "Make our Garden Grow" from Candide with the combined choirs . . . cell phone video of this last number here (courtesy PJr) (be patient, the music starts at about 0:24). Nice crowd, live space, good. PJ and MB also attended, we had a bite at Village Tavern after. The concert was fun. We typically are involved with bigger works - which is certainly my preference - but it was a nice change of pace to do these pieces.



April 20 - CU had a bit role in a concert with the ASU Sinfonietta - themed "The Art of War" - we did the choral part of the 1812 Overture. Interesting concept - student art works in the lobby, martial arts demonstrations, ROTC presence, music all themed to war. It was fun to be onstage for the overture.

April 8 - we performed "Belshazzar's Feast" (combined ASU choirs). The work (described here) is mostly built around the story line from the Book of Daniel that involves the "handwriting on the wall" . . . which appeared as Belshazzar et al profaned the cups Nebuchadnezzar had heisted from the temple. Rembrandt's version here was on the cover of our music.

This was a bit of a challenge to learn, let's say. Barb, Dan, Emily, Allison visited our March 22nd rehearsal when in town for NMG-POC wedding . . . probably were thinking we'd never pull off the performance. But it did come together reasonably well, was very much fun to perform, I hope to have another opportunity in some future year.

Kai (at Wild Horse Pass)

Wanted to mention briefly that PJ and I spent a delightful weekend at Sheraton Wild Horse Pass resort down on the south end of Phoenix (overnights April 9 and 10).

The impetus for the trip was a generous gift certificate to Kai restaurant at the resort - received from our kids for our 30th wedding anniversary. So it was time to get going on this. Kai has been open a few years now, and remains the valley's #1 fine dining restaurant (per the reviewers, or at least most of them). I believe it's the only restaurant in the state with AAA five diamond status.

The place lived up to its billing - PJ had the lamb, I had the buffalo tenderloin, tremendous attention to detail by the staff - nice.

What was also nice was that the other restaurants at the resort also did a great job - we had dinner at Ko Sin the second night, plus a great lunch at the golf course clubhouse.

Mostly relaxed around the room, but also did a hike on the south side of South Mountain - Telegraph Pass - I can see why it's such a popular place with folks on that side of town. Even some petroglyphs right off the trail.

Excellent getaway.

(NMG-POC) wedding music video

Among so many excellent elements - one of the finest things about the NMG-POC wedding was the music at the ceremony.



Much of this was due to the efforts of one David Clarke Isele - who authored some original music for the processional, assisted with music selection, performed before and during the ceremony, etc. Linda Prideaux did a bunch of work on this also; led the Panis Angelicus choir, played piano on a Biebl "Ave Maria" arrangement. Anne Koehler accompanied on piano. A group of folks participated in the Panis Angelicus choir (Kerry, Chris, Patrick, Paul Jr; Carol, Dolores, Nedda, Pat H., Charlie, Nicole L., Danny L., Dave K).

On my cellphone I grabbed two short videos. Above is the choir (minus Dave Kollar, who was on a plane or at the hotel bar or something) rehearsing "Panis Angelicus" on the day before the wedding. Second video is a snippet (<25 seconds) from the Biebl "Ave Maria" (DCI and LP practicing before the ceremony on 3/25).

Still life (wedding aftermath edition)

I have lots of stuff I want to post about. But first I'm going to use the weekend to work on taxes (since PJ and I are scheduled out next weekend for Kai restaurant per last year kid-gift, and I notice 4/15 looming).

Will post a few photos in the meantime.

When you get back from a wedding celebration, one's house is full of interesting stuff that helps trigger warm memories from a wonderful celebration.

I liked this random collection that sat on our kitchen table. Bouquets, centerpieces, sign-in "home plates" full of kind wishes, wrapping paper, gifts, cards (generously stuffed: nice job, guests), etc. . . . click photo to enlarge.

I get to be in Beethoven's 9th

I'm trying something new this year - in addition to continuing year six of participation in Choral Union at ASU (with CPG), I auditioned for the chorus in something known as Arizona Musicfest (promoted as ''Arizona's Premier Winter Music Festival" - which may be true, as far as I know). I understand that they bring in orchestra folks from major symphonies around the U.S.

The performance has been sold out for some time, which is kind of neat.

I was interested for a few reasons - an opportunity to work with a different chorus; the conductor (Robert Moody) was enjoyable to work with at our holiday concert with the Phoenix Symphony; and it was practical, a reasonable practice schedule. But most of all: the work that the chorus is performing is Beethoven's famous 9th Symphony (4th movement, Schiller's "Ode to Joy"). I needed to be in this and see what it's like. Even if I was nervous about auditioning.

Some background on this work - most interesting - is in this book.

The chorus listing is at this link.

And Moody does a pretty interesting promotional video on the Musicfest website giving some information on the work . . . I especially like the description of the performance (led by Leonard Bernstein) shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall . . . with the combined orchestras from East and West Germany. Here it is:



Performance is Feb. 27, I'm very much looking forward to it.

Super Bowl = great time to run errands

But it almost was creepy. Patricia was at work all day Sunday, and our roommates had gone over to a Super Bowl party hosted by Mr. Jon Blaha.

Leaving me to my own devices. Among other things, I ran some errands to a couple grocery stores. The Albertson's parking lot was eerie - almost no cars, plus the normal noise of traffic at the Tatum & Shea intersection was almost entirely missing. There were very few customers inside the stores. It made me think of one of those 1950s movies about a nuclear attack.

This book had discussed how the early 20th century British authorities encouraged football/soccer as a rallying point for a country that had largely lost religion as a unifying force. Here in the US, our state religion (a/k/a the NFL) clearly is doing just fine.

(BTW, we did watch the last six minutes of the game after PJ got back from work. I was happy GB won, on the theory that my nieces in Wisconsin would enjoy it. Not to mention their dad.)

CA quick-trip (EPG relo, part 1)

This developed unexpectedly - EPG successfully interviewed for a job in the Los Angeles area and will be relocating in a matter of days. Advertising work with a social media emphasis. It sounds good. And wow, it happened fast.

With scant lead time, PJ, EPG and I drove over to LA on Friday, January 28 to see if we could track down an apartment. Didn't hit the road until mid-afternoon - I was stuck on the phone, plus my two fellow travelers were busy trying to line up appointments to see places. Mind you, proposed move-in date was just two weeks off, and this is a desirable area (Santa Monica) without lots of vacancies.

Anyway, Friday travels were easy - made great time, just one slow-down while in the downtown LA area. Had an unexpectedly nice dinner at La Bottega - Italian place with a deli feel, yet delightful dishes (home-made pasta), wonderful beer list, comfortable feel. Even better - after we all treated ourselves to an excellent dinner and drinks (Duchesse De Bourgogne and Delirium Tremens, photo below, as exhibits 1 and 2), EPG treated us by picking up the check. So that was quite fine. The restaurant was on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Purdue Ave - the latter being a name with which we grew familiar during the next day.

By Saturday morning, things weren't looking good. The guy from the apartment-finding service flamed out, leaving us to hit the phones in the hotel room while simultaneously tracking locations on the web and trying to organize our own route. But: it all turned out fine. EPG and PJ had a pretty good idea of desired general area. EPG had a few places already lined up. We saw a pretty extensive cross-section of places. We did walk-ups and cold calls, spoke to building managers on the fly. Liked a place right off the bat at the corner of Purdue and Iowa (I know, what's with the Big 10 names?); eventually walked the Purdue street a bit and found one we liked better just a bit down the same block; made friends with the manager (Dana) who put EPG first in line for a really nice one-bedroom apartment that hadn't even hit the market yet - with current resident clearing out in time to support a 2/15 start date. Wow, that was pretty lucky. We also figured out that EPG's office is also on Purdue Avenue . . . about five blocks away from the apartment, with the prior evening's restaurant just about two blocks away. Weird alignment of restaurant, apartment, office on the same street; but certainly convenient.

We had looked at a couple places down close to the beach; also had lunch at what is basically a high-end outdoor shopping mall a couple blocks off the beach. Weather was great; we felt like we made really good progress; we finished at about 6:30p and didn't quite feel like hitting the road for AZ. So checked back into the same hotel, reprised our La Bottega dinner (equally excellent for round two, plus they were playing interesting music); then had a smooth return trip to AZ on Sunday (1/30) with stops at the outlet mall and Blythe.

So this was good progress . . . perhaps another trip for move-in soon? Santa Monica is a very nice area.

Dolores did a nice job; a big day nears

The other day we received the invitations for the Nicole-POC wedding (click to enlarge).

Prepared by my sister Dolores, who continues to be quite good at this sort of thing. I like all the representations of Arizona-in-general, ASU campus, Chicago, White Sox baseball, frosting snitcher, etc. (I only had one question, POC's right hand seems to be in the wrong place.)

And then there's the RSVP card for wedding guests to fill out; it features the old ring-in-an egg trick that I understand worked semi-effectively in the hands of a semi-awake recipient. (But now that I think of it: if POC had had this kind of RSVP card available at the time, he could have handed it to Nicole and just had her fill out her response; could have skipped the whole ring thingy.)

Anyway, we're looking forward to everyone arriving here in AZ pretty soon. In the meantime, we will be seeing Nicole, Kerry and POC in about a week as planning progresses. Fun.

Bach's B minor Mass

PJ and I had a delightful experience Saturday evening, click here for summary over at the review blog.

My Dad turns 82 today

And I'm sticking with my story: he's been a great dad. For nearly 55 years in my case, and I still think I learn something every time I'm around him (or have a phone chat with my mom and him).

I like this photo (and PJ's meticulous explanation on the reverse) - EMG was conducting a tour of the St. Joe hill farm for some eager city kids in August 1990. We had a great visit . . . now over 20 years ago . . .

Happy b'day, with thanks for a lifetime of support, guidance, love, setting some values in place and then just letting us grow.

Frosty new year

Backyard fountain, 9a 1/1/11.

This is an unusual sight. But it was below freezing for several hours.

Must have had same penmanship teacher

Christmas card envelopes for 2010.

Top version is from my mother.

Bottom version is from my godmother.

The 1930s penmanship instruction apparently has stayed with them; perhaps somehow augmented by genes or environment (notice how family members sometimes have similar handwriting?)

As always, click to enlarge.

Christmas 2010

There were lots of nice moments in Christmas 2010 . . .

1. PJ did lots of prep, including baking: cranberry bread, chocolate cake, etc.

2. Kerry and Luis arrive evening December 16 (Thursday). Among other fine activities: lots of euchre games. Luis (my partner) = quick learner, deliberate player, undaunted by simulated snores from the competition. We won more than our share.

3. Ray and Linda Christmas party on December 18 (Saturday) - food was better than ever, enjoyed the conversation, even did a bit of Christmas caroling. So that was nice. Fancy dinner at home Sunday evening following NFL red-zone and associated fun throughout the day.

4. Postino's lunch on December 20 (Monday). Including Kerry, Luis (host), PMG, PJ, CPG. Always nice to have a small pitcher at Monday lunch, even if it was Hoegaarden.

5. Nicole and POC arrive late evening December 21 (Tuesday).

6. Constant running around for several days by Nicole, POC, Kerry and PJ dealing with various wedding prep matters - I hear they made a lot of progress.

7. Bridal shower hosted by Linda on December 22 (Wednesday). I hear they all had a very fine time. Ray and I joined would-be bowlers (CPG, EPG, PJr, POC, Luis, Alex, Richard) during their $4 pitcher warm-up at Uncle Sam's; then the two of us had dinner (and Bosteel's Tripel Karmeleit) at Delux. Came back home to video game hell as the bowling idea had been thwarted by "league night." Then bridal shower folks showed up for a recap.

8. Dinner at Mary Beth's place on December 23 (Thursday) - nice per usual - pork roast, creme brulee (chocolate), card playing, fun. And Herman was there. PJ and I came home after, and the rest of the folks went down to Tempe.

9. Christmas Eve (Friday) - perfect weather. Had nice basketball games down at the park, followed by conversation in the house (with Steve Buck in attendance for awhile). Did a preliminary demo of iMemories family videos, played even more euchre, went to dinner at Rokerij.

10. Poor PJ had to work on Christmas Day. But this left the field open for others to cook - and they did so with great success. Including KHG with cheesecake (photo), POC and NMG with appetizers (including some POC-family specialties), CPG with most everything else (including a wondrous prime rib (sponsored by POC)). I spent lots of time trying to figure out my new coffee maker (photo). Had dinner after PJ gets back from work. Opened some nice beers (PJ gifts to me) before dinner (award winners were the Charles V and Bosteel). Started watching another round of the iMemories family videos (featuring extended interview with EPG prior to his first day of kindergarten). Then switched to photos (using the throw-box hooked to TV and associated with my laptop). PJ and EPG (the workers) eventually had to peel off. Photos continue for the rest of us, with extended running commentary from the usual non-stop talkers. Finished; 2:15a; we must have spent four-five hours looking at this stuff. I had absolutely no idea it was so late (but then again a two-hour nap aids endurance). Fun night/morning.

11. December 26 (Sunday) = travel day; by late afternoon we had lost all our visitors. PJ and I go to the Village Tavern for dinner. Tired; with many excellent memories. We need to do a better job with photos.

2010 holiday concert notes (ASU Choral Union) (December 3, 4 and 5, 2010)

A few more notes about the holiday concert we (ASU Choral Union) performed with the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra . . .

1. It definitely was a pops concert. Lots of variety: traditional, solemn, and playful carols; a sing-along; soprano soloist; dancers; youth choir; a humorous duet performed by the conductor and the soprano soloist.

2. The conductor was very effective at communicating with the audience, keeping the pace moving along, etc. All of this resulted in a very engaged audience, which was nice.

3. Some local dance company had put together dance performance items for several of the songs. Including a Nativity scene during one of the Enigma variations, plus some basic leg kicks etc. during a more upbeat portion. This worked (some trepidation at the rehearsal).

4. It was nice to have the opportunity to do a program more than once. Needless to say, the performance can improve with repetition.

5. Performances were Friday evening; Saturday afternoon; Saturday evening; Sunday afternoon. This gave us the opportunity to explore some downtown places. Went to Majerle's after the Saturday afternoon performance (Winterhook = good); also had dinner at Pasta Bar before the evening performance. Went to Hanny's for dinner on Sunday - but since it didn't open until 5, we ended up filling the time by having a drink at some other place down the street. This all was quite fun.

6. We appreciated that Laurel and Virgil (visiting AZ from IA per their typical winter pattern) made the trip downtown for the Sunday afternoon concert. We had a nice chat outside Symphony Hall (per photo).

7. Though all of this is incredibly nice, in the end it's about the music. For me in recent years, it feels like the Christmas season doesn't launch until the holiday concert rehearsal with the orchestra. Then I'm ready to go.