All Is Calm/Hollidazzle

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while, but our lives have actually been pretty uneventful in the past few week.  I thought I would fill you in on some of the activities we've been involved in around here.  First of all, I'll back up and tell you about our wonderful Thanksgiving.  David, and all of Cantus, was off Sunday-Friday, so he flew to Nashville on Sunday and then hitched a ride with Sarah Hackney (Thank you sooooo much!) to Searcy on Wednesday.  I flew out of MSP on Wednesday and stayed in Searcy until Sunday.  It was really wonderful to get to go home and see all my family.   

After Thanksgiving, David's Christmas season started to get a little crazy.  He flew from Little Rock the day after Thanksgiving to Wisconsin for a short tour there.  Then he came back, and he flew to Seattle for about a week to perform All Is Calm in 3 cities around Seattle.  After that trip, they came back and flew to Greenville, SC.  The night they were performing in Greenville I got a text message from Kayla (Chambers) Leader (a friend of mine at HU) asking if I was in SC with David because she was sitting in the theater about to watch Cantus perform All Is Calm.  So funny! I couldn't believe what a small world.  I was so glad she got to see that show and David.  The last trip Cantus made was to Fargo, ND, right after they got back from SC.  David had a great time and really enjoyed traveling with the Cantus guys and the three actors that perform in All Is Calm with them.  The guys got back from Fargo and then had 8 shows in 4 days for their Twin Cities performances. 

The night he got back from Fargo, David and I joined our Life Group for a holiday parade called Hollidazzle in Downtown Minneapolis.  This parade runs every Thursday-Sunday night at 6:30 from the day after Thanksgiving until the weekend before Christmas.  Of course the night we go the temperature was 5 degrees.  Here are some pictures of the parade.  (no laughing at the amount of layers I have on in these pictures. I was trying to fit in up here.  And yes, I had toe and hand warmers)

The parade takes place on Nicollet Mall (ave) from 12th st to 4th st and volunteers are the participants.  After the parade we walked down to eat dinner at Key's Bakery. 

Now I'm going to give a little info on All Is Calm since I've been talking about it so much.  (*Spoiler Warning*)   All Is Calm (AIC) is the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914 of World War I.  The show is very powerful and touching.  The show consists of the 9 Cantus guys that sing throughout the show and there are 3 actors that act out the perspectives of different soldiers from both sides (German, British, Scottish, Irish).  The story goes that (this is a very shortened version) it's Christmas 1914 in the trenches and all of a sudden one of the German soldiers starts singing "Stille Nacht" (this is when a Cantus guy would sing that and play the role of that soldier) and the British soldiers don't know how to respond but they know they can't shoot an unarmed man, so they start singing too.  They continue singing and even meet in between the trenches and laugh and share "souvenirs" from their home country.  Eventually one of the commanders makes the interaction stop and no one is allowed to talk about what happened.   It's an amazing story and Cantus does an absolutely amazing job in this show.  It's getting very popular here and hopefully will become a Holiday tradition here. 


David's busy schedule is almost over.  He is singing tonight in their first of three Christmas with Cantus concerts which are all sold out.  This show has a lot of the songs that are on their newest CD that they just releated.  I am going on Thursday night, and then we have a party afterwards. 

David and I will wake up early Friday am and fly to Dallas to meet my family for Christmas and then head to Nashville later in the week.  We're really excited to get to go to Searcy and Nashville for break. 

I also want everyone to know CANTUS will be in SEARCY, AR, on January 16, 2012 at HU, so get your tickets and go listen to this great group, you'll be glad you did!!!

I want everyone to be there since I can't be there! I'll be listening in spirit!  Enjoy!

If you can't make the 16th, Cantus will be in Memphis, TN, on January 17th, 2012. 


Also, I might note that we have been having UNSEASONABLY warm temperatures up here and I am NOT complaining!!!