Everyone's a Critic

In December 1997, I was halfway through my sophomore year at Butler. I had just started taking harp lessons in January, and my harp teacher, Diane Evans, was the principal harpist with ISO. She knew how much I loved musicals and pops concerts, so she told me in November that I absolutely must check out Yuletide at the Symphony. I balked. First of all, tickets were almost $20 at the time, and as a broke college student, that sounded ridiculous. I didn't know anything about the show, and I wasn't even sure how I'd get downtown since I didn't have a car. Well, Diane persisted, and I finally bought a ticket, in the cheapest section, about two rows from the top, and had a friend with a car come with me. I had a blast, an absolute blast. It was everything that I loved --- peppy Christmas music, giant Christmas Carol puppets, tap dancing Santas, plus amazing singing. The next year, Diane didn't have to ask if I was going. I bought my ticket and moved down a section, which is when I discovered that there was an upper layer of instrumentalists on the stage! Who knew? I couldn't see them the previous year from my seats high up in the theatre, so finding a gaggle of brass players was an added bonus. Since then, I haven't missed a year of Yuletide. I played handbells in the outer lobby for several years as part of the pre-concert entertainment, and now my boyfriend and I make it an annual part of our Christmas celebrating. I still look forward to seeing the reindeer come down the aisles and admiring the beautiful flowing dresses on stage. I've taken family members and friends to Yuletide and always make sure that everyone has a glass of cider and best sugar cookie in the world at intermission. What could be a better Christmas tradition! I look forward to seeing what year 13 at Yuletide has in store for me.

Name: Jen Huber
City: Indianapolis