Christmas. A time for joy. A time for peace. A time for celebration. Amongst us college students, that celebration is mostly about the fact that the semester is over and we get to go home and see our families. Before you leave campus for the winter, though, why don’t you start the Christmas season off right?

Christmas at PC is a program that has been held at PC for 15 years now. Every year, the Department of Music, headed by Dr. Porter Stokes, the department chair, spends nearly the entire fall semester preparing for one big concert, not only to praise God and ring in the Christmas season, but to show the PC community and the rest of the world what we can do. Sadly, every year we have a rather disappointing turnout of college students and personnel. Many people here at the college don’t even know the Christmas at PC program even exists!

It’s hard to believe that a program including ten percent of the college population (that’s including the School of Pharmacy in that population) can go unnoticed by so many for so many years. The concert consists of 3 choirs, the PC Choir, Cantare, the men’s choir, and Bella Voce, the women’s choir, the orchestra, the handbell choir, and all of the Music Department faculty members. Add in the set designers, builders, and painters, as well as the lighting and sound operators and maintenance and custodial staff that help out, and there are almost 160 people involved in the creation of this concert.

This year’s program, How Sweet the Sound, focuses on proclaiming the news of Jesus’ birth. Songs such as “Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers” and “Noel” proclaim the news, while “One December Bright And Clear” and “Magnificat” focus on the nativity scene itself. Several popular carols are placed throughout the program, and the audience is invited to join in. The annual finale, a rousing rendition of “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, is always heartwarming and full of Christmas cheer.

The performance will be the weekend before exams, December 6th, 7th, and 8th. The Friday and Saturday performances will be at 7 pm, while the Sunday performance will be at 3 pm. The concert will last about 80 minutes. Tickets can be bought online at http://www.presby.edu/christmas/ for $10. You can also stop by the Music offices in front of Belk Auditorium to buy tickets.

At the end of the day, as Dr. Stokes said, “We do this because we love Christmas, and we love music.” So come out and support your fellow Blue Hose as we ring in the Christmas Season, the PC way!