Tuba Christmas at the Alex Theater
My family doesn't really have many traditions that we follow at Christmas anymore. Our big Christmas parties with other families stopped happening many years ago once they started to get too big due for a variety of reasons. I'm so busy singing at Christmas Masses that my family doesn't even really get together on Christmas Eve, but sometimes we all see each other at one of my cousin's houses, to celebrate Christmas and a bunch of kids' December birthdays. For several years in a row, we either had a pregnant family member at our Christmas Day dinner at our old Arcadia house, or there was a newborn or two. I'm convinced that the Santos side of my family is most fertile in the months of February and March. :)
Jen, one of my former roommates, has made a tradition of going to Tuba Christmas every year, and we go to the one at the Alex Theater in Glendale to see a hundred or so different types of tubas on stage, playing Christmas carols. The sound of all of those tubas playing together is really cool to hear. They play one verse and refrain, then the audience sings along. For some reason, the flyer that they distribute always has 3 or 4 verses of each song listed, which really doesn't make sense because we never sing more than one verse. They also don't seem to proofread the paper EVER, because I'm pretty sure that this wasn't the first time that I'd seen "Hark the Harold Angels Sing" and "Angles We Have Heard on High" on the program. We have fun, though. We like to see how some of the musicians decorate their tubas with tinsel and lights and ribbons. They even have a contest among themselves every year for the best decorations.
Most of the time, we go out to dinner beforehand somewhere on Brand Blvd., then go to the Alex for the festivities. This year, we went to BJ's, which was fine except for the fact that one of our plates got dropped on the floor and the kitchen didn't bother to tell the server, so when she wondered what was up, they finally told her that they were making another pizza for our table. Larry never worries about being late to Tuba Christmas because it's not really his thing, so he didn't mind if he would have to wait for his food and just meet up with us later. He got it in time, though, so he reluctantly came with us. (Larry does enjoy the portion of the program with the professional quartets/quintets. We don't sing during this portion, but I don't think that's the reason that he enjoys that part more than the rest of the program. At least *my* singing can't be the reason!).
This year, it was Jen and Larry and their girls Rebecca and Danielle, our other former roommate Jennifer, and me attending. It had been raining quite a bit, and our organizer was really busy, but we're the core group that is required to attend, anyway. I think that I've only been excused when the event coincided with a Rockapella concert somewhere on the West Coast.
The concert is free, and seating fills up rather quickly. We ended up sitting in the balcony, about halfway back. Rebecca was very tired, and I think she lasted maybe one or two songs before she fell asleep. We tried to wake her up for Jingle Bells, but she was completely out. Danielle, the younger sister, decided that she would dance instead of sing. There she was, doing little ballet and modern dance moves to the music in front of her seat, and it was quite entertaining. Jen was worried that her daughter would inadvertently knock into one of the other audience members. Rebecca eventually woke up after Larry had taken Danielle outside (and subsequently missed the professional portion of the show), so she didn't completely miss everything. At least I don't think that she missed seeing Santa, but I'm pretty sure that Danielle did. Or maybe they both missed him. It didn't matter. There were no elves throwing candy canes at us upstairs in the balcony this year. Bummer.
We went to Starbuck's afterward, and then walked by the petting zoo to feel sorry for the cold animals for a little bit. Danielle really wanted to walk with me for some reason, even though she never referred to me by name. (She just called me "HER" when she talked about me). She had insisted on wearing her pretty shoes from the party that they had attended earlier, and liked to skip around instead of just walking. At one point, she slipped and fell, and I thought to myself, "See, we learn at an early age that pretty shoes can hurt us." Rebecca asked us questions like "Is Aunt Sherry my aunt?" and we told her stories of our college days when Jen had decided, long before she even met Larry, that her kids would call us Aunt Jennifer and Aunt Sherry.
We had a good time, even with the moodiness of some people that aren't me, and I was a little jealous that Jen was going to the Tuba Christmas at Downtown Disney, which would have over 500 tubas playing. Then I remembered that on the same day as the Rockapella shows in Rrrrancho Cucamonga and didn't care anymore. Perhaps I should have just gone, since we all know now that Rrrrrancho was an Epic Fail. Oh well.
Merry Tuba Christmas to you and yours!
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