Karen Dielmann
While the calendar may say it is August, plans are already in the works for celebrating the holidays here at the Ranch. The Robson Ranch Singers will begin rehearsals in mid-September for their holiday concert scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, Dec. 9 and 10. The theme of this year’s concert will be “Through the Eyes of a Child: The Wonder of the Holidays.”
Soprano Julie Feldman reminisces about her childhood memories celebrating Hanukkah. “It wasn’t customary for each member of a family to have their own Menorah to light during Hanukkah. The family had one Menorah, and the father or grandfather did the lighting and said the prayers while the rest of the family watched. Only in my family, my father didn’t say any prayers (I didn’t even know there were special prayers until I got married) and some evenings he would get home very late, so my mother lit the candles.”
Another member of the Singers remembers how she finally figured out how Santa was able to visit all of the children in the world in one day. Marsha Oliver says, “When I was six or seven, I loved the little Nativity scene my aunt had created for us and was fascinated by the story I heard in Sunday School about the birth of the Baby Jesus. For some reason, I didn’t question that, but I spent (probably) an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how Santa Claus was able to visit the homes of all the children around the world at the same time. At some point I learned about the 24 time zones and realized Santa was able to visit all the children’s homes in one time zone and then move on to the next, thus making his task less formidable!”
Alto Jane Everett remembers “As a child, my twin sister and I always wondered how Santa was able to deliver toys to children who didn’t have fireplaces, and how did he deliver to children in hospitals? But as one grows older, you wonder more about the true meaning of the holiday than what’s under the tree.”
So, mark your calendars now and plan to attend one of our shows in December. If you are interested in learning more about the Robson Ranch Singers or in possibly singing with us this fall, please reach out to one of our directors, Laurie Laramie, at laramiefamily@comcast.net. Please note that our soprano and alto sections are full. However, we are still accepting tenors and basses for the concert season.