By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus

The sounds of Christmas are in the air in Littleton from the one end of town to the lake area. The weather reminds us of spring rather than Christmas, but both are seasons of rebirth. One represents the birth of Christ the other the birth of a new season in a new year. 

Even with the spring-like weather you would have had no trouble figuring out which season it was if you were around Littleton United Methodist Church or Calvary United Methodist Church this past Sunday.

This is also the season for Christmas Cantata’s. Fortunately, for the people who live in Littleton and the lake area, they have some of the best voices around. They are also blessed in that the people behind those voices enjoy sharing their talents with the churches in the area.

The Community Christmas Cantata was presented by a choir of about 45 people from nine of the local churches. This year’s presentation was called “A Celebration of Lesson and Carols.” It was a mixture of music with bible versus. The celebration was co-directed by Sue Beazley and Janice Love, which, in case you are new to the area, means it was a first class event.

As usual the church filled up early and by show time there were only a couple of seats left. From the start of the show, when the Choir made their way from the entrance of the church down both the left and right isles, until they sang their way out of the church down the same aisles, it was a non-stop celebration of the words and songs surrounding the holiday.

The Rev. Rob Licht, Littleton United Methodist Church’s new pastor, lent his voice to the choir while Rev. Fred Eichner, pastor of Lakeside Lutheran Church, read various Bible versus between songs.

The star of the show was the choir. Their voices came together to make for some of the best Christmas songs you’ll ever hear. Highlighted by various solo performances including Gregg Solovieff, Juanita Place, Lois Weaver and Rev. Licht, the non-stop performance went by all to fast.  

Adding to the voices of the choir were the bells of the Community Handbell Ensemble. In addition Carol Seidel played the piano; Marilyn Cockey, was the organist and Wanda Osberg played the flute. Seidel and Cockney entertained the audience with a piano duet to accompany the choir while they sang Jesus, Good Above All Other.  

Members of the community choir represented Littleton United Methodist Church, Lakeside Lutheran Church, Prospect United Methodist Church, Calvary United Methodist Church, Simmons Grove Baptist Church, Littleton Presbyterian Church, Weaver’s Chapel United Methodist Church, Lake Gaston Baptist Church and Stanley White Presbyterian Church.

“Joy Around the World,” was the Cantata held early Sunday evening at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Littleton.

The 23-person choir took the audience on a tour of Christmas songs from various countries. Along with each song was a history lesson highlighting the contribution each country brings to the Christmas celebration.

Another highlight was the singing of some of the songs in the original language. Many of the people in the audience did not know the languages the songs were sung in, but that did not stop them from enjoying it. When Rubi Rodriquez sang about Mary being called back to the manger because someone was stealing chocolate from the baby Jesus, she took everyone on a wonderful journey with her facial expressions and body language. Because chocolate is derived from Spanish it was easy to understand what she was singing about it. 

Countries mentioned in the presentation were Spain, Austria, Germany, France, Brazil, and England. They also included the Caribbean region. 

The narratives between the songs revealed that Christmas trees were brought into the custom by Martin Luther; Silent Night was written in 1818 and originally sung with a guitar accompaniment. It was also revealed that in Brazil they hold the Christmas mass in the afternoon to allow people to sleep in or go to the beach. The hanging of a Christmas stocking, the Christmas goose and Christmas carols came from England. In the Caribbean Christmas is a time to renew the house by cleaning, painting and possibly buying new furniture. 

Choir director and accompanist Bev Kaveney took full advantage of all the unique voices in the choir. In addition to the solos performed by Rodriquez there were also solos by Larry Williams, Christa Underwood, Betty Howard, Greg Solovieff, Louise Odenkirk, Joyce Taylor and Judy Hand. 

Accompanying the choir were Wanda Osberg playing the flute and percussion, Dean Riggan playing the rainstick, Kay Myrick playing the guitar and Hannah King playing the violin. 

It was a day full of music that added some Christmas spirit to everyone involved. 

Guests from each event were invited to enjoy refreshments after the shows.