The first holiday (then Christmas) program at Rosemary Hall, 1911.
As the holiday season approaches, Choate is preparing its students for the oncoming festivities and break. The events kickstarted with gingerbread cookie decorating and Hanukkah with Hillel. This coming Wednesday, December 14, math teacher and holiday aficionado Mr. Marquis Tisdale is hosting “Tiz the Season,” a holiday-themed gathering designed to lighten the pressure on students due to the overwhelming amount of beginning-of-term assessments. From 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., replacing school meeting, hot cocoa, as well as donut holes, cookies and candy, will be served in the Library/Hill House quad.
However, there are more holiday-themed activities going on than ones that simply involve food. During the winter at Choate, the Arts are at their peak popularity. On Sunday, December 11, the annual Lessons and Carols service took place. This event included teachings and choral accompaniment sung by the Chamber and Festival choruses during the Christmas service. On Monday, December 12, there was cocoa and A Charlie Brown’s Christmas in the Seymour St. John Chapel as well as caroling performed by Christian Fellowship.
To culminate this series of holiday-themed events, Rev. Ally Brundige is hosting Choate’s annual Holiday Program on Thursday, December 15, the evening before students depart.
On the topic of the program, Rev. Brundige said, “The Holiday Program brings the Choate community together one last time before the New Year and Winter Break to celebrate our diverse community and its various winter holiday traditions and artistic talents. This occasion provides a time to be in the present, enjoy one another, exchange a sense of joy, belovedness, generosity, beauty, laughter, peace, and hope, and perhaps leave us inspired to share these very same gifts with our friends, families, and the world.”
To help get Choate into the holiday spirit actively, Dance Company is doing a piece to a remix of “Carol the Bells” during the program.
Madison Epstein O’Halloran ’18, the junior officer of Dance Company and president of Hip Hop Club, said “Lily James, Elle Rinaldi, and I, the heads of Dance Company, met an hour before Dance Company started every week to choreograph an optional dance to “Carol the Bells.” In past years, we have used the Club’s time to make the dance with the entire company. This year is different. We had out of club rehearsals and people volunteered to be in it, which added a different dynamic because everyone who is in the dance wanted to be in it and is really committed to it. It was really a collaborative effort.”
Although many of the other acts are kept as a surprise for the night of the event, Rev. Brundige said that Choate can count on student ensembles, a cappella performances, poems, video clips, messages, and school-wide sing-alongs for this year’s long-awaited Holiday Program. New students, get ready to sing your lungs out.
