Here Comes Santa Claus

Last December Marilyn and I took Sean and Tashena to see Elf: The Musical at PTC.  They enjoyed it so much we decided to take them to another Christmas performance this year (a little culture never hurt anybody).  Every year the Utah Symphony performs Here Comes Santa Claus as part of its Family Series and we went to this concert yesterday afternoon.  It was only one hour long (the perfect length for children) and the orchestra played well-known Christmas songs such as "Joy to the World," "O Christmas Tree," "Here Comes Santa Claus," and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer."  For the finale, a visitor from the North Pole came and conducted the orchestra (and the audience) in a sing-along featuring "Deck the Halls," Jingle Bells," and "Frosty the Snowman."  These concerts in the Family Series are a great way to introduce classical music to children (see the Halloween concert here) because they are a lot of fun and the music is accessible for all ages.  Tashena loved it and Sean did a really good job sitting through the whole thing (of course, we did a full pat-down before entering Abravanel Hall and confiscated several toys with lasers).  I loved every minute of it and so did Marilyn (she thinks that Associate Conductor Vladimir Kulenovic is adorable).  I am so glad that the Utah Symphony performs concerts that are geared for the whole family.  I derive a great deal of pleasure from the performing arts (as you know if you read my blog regularly) and it makes me very happy to give Sean and Tashena opportunities like this concert.  Afterwards, we went out to lunch and Sean told us that this was the best day ever!