Photographs and Ticket Stubs

Well! December certainly seems to be asserting herself. Twelve hours in, there was already 4 inches of snow on the balcony outside my window and more pouring from the sky. Today was beautiful! It snowed heavily until about 5:00 this evening. The campus is now shrouded in a clean layer of that cold, wet, white stuff that makes some people grouchy and others giddy with joy. I am the latter. I just think it’s so magical! And it brings back great memories from throughout my childhood and high school. For me, snow can only bring joy. I guess I have yet to get into an accident because of it. heh.

This snow was perfectly timed. Thursday marked the first day of the event a good friend calls the NGNS (National Gathering of Norwegian Sweaters) here on campus. Most other people call it the St. Olaf Christmas Festival. Christmas Fest brings simultaneous joy, frustration, annoyance, nostalgia, nervousness, and cheer to campus. If you don’t already know about it, I quote: “The St. Olaf Christmas Festival, a service of hymns, carols, choral works and orchestral selections that celebrates the birth of Christ, is one of the oldest musical celebrations of Christmas in the United States. Started in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf College Music Department, the festival features more than 500 student musicians who are members of five choirs and the St. Olaf Orchestra.”

The festival is attended religiously (no pun intended) by a host of alumni as well as families of the musicians and many others mainly of the Norwegian (Hence the Norwegian sweaters. You couldn’t count the number of them walking around campus even if you wanted to), Lutheran, and/or musical worlds. I myself have attended Christmas Fest since I was little. I remember loooong concerts in which I would inevitably fall asleep on my father’s lap after consuming large amounts of life-savers my mom brought to keep me busy and quiet – she always undid the wrappers for me and my siblings. Afterward, we’d head through the snow to the Lion’s Pause (a student-run… umm… hangout?) and order ice cream cones, then walk around the campus while my parents told us stories about their college days. I’d fall asleep in the car on the way home, completely exhausted.

Nowadays, the commons building has been re-built so the Lion’s Pause is not the same one from my memory, I can stay quiet and awake (mostly) through the concert, and was even in it last year. I live here, so instead of experiencing the rides to and from, I greet whatever family has decided to come this year, we head to dinner, and then I find myself giving the tour of campus and catching everyone up on my college days. Ironic, really.

Anyway, I went to the Christmas concert with my cousin on Thursday (opening night). When the concert started, there was no snow on the ground. After it ended, we walked out to be greeted by a healthy snowfall complete with a half-inch dusting on the ground. What an appropriate way to herald in the Christmas Festival! The snow soon ended and much of it melted, leaving the ground nearly bare again for the Christmas concert Friday night. Too bad. But - as you know, the Upper Midwest was hit with a huge snowstorm today and Northfield was certainly not overlooked! I awoke this morning to a beautiful sight, the nature of which I’ve already explained.

And that’s why this snow storm is perfect. It’s December 1st. Christmas Fest is in full swing. Finals are coming but I don’t care. I’m going sledding tonight when my friends get out of the concert. I’ll steal a tray from the Caf to use as my sled. Merry Christmas!

P.S. If this post has interested you in Christmas Fest and you’d like to see it, it’s being broadcast live to 200 theaters throughout the country tomorrow (Sunday). Check out this link to find more information and get tickets. Here’s the commercial for it (hahaha). It is also regularly broadcast on Public Television (TPT, PBS) and Public Radio (MPR, NPR) throughout the Christmas season (yes, this thing is kind of famous). That info is here. If you’re a St. Olaf student and don’t already have a ticket for the real thing, you can watch the simulcast free in the Pause tomorrow. Free popcorn.

If you’re interested in getting tickets for next year, put the to-do on your calendar for September or October of next year. No joke. Tickets sell out fast.

- Geeze! If that wasn’t promotion, I don’t know what is. Sorry all.