Advent(ures)

December is well under way and Christmas is getting nearer and nearer... I wanted to write something about what I've been up to, how I like to spend the Advent time and get ready for Christmas, and how I don't like all the commercial frenzy surrounding the holiday.

One thing I struggle to understand is people waiting for the 1st December and then whipping out ALL of their Christmas decorations and trees and everything at once, because "it's officially Christmas now". No, it isn't. It's Advent. I myself prefer to build up the atmosphere gradually. Also because, being religious, I see the Advent period as time to prepare for the actual holiday, not as a way of extending the cheer for as long as possible. That is not to say that I don't like the decorations or Christmas markets in the streets... I just don't like it when it gets too intense too early. When by the time Christmas is here, you're sick of the carols because you've been hearing them everywhere for weeks and weeks, and you are used to all the lights and decorations so much that they're almost boring.

December is always a very busy time of year for all musicians and my choir is no exception. We had a couple of concert dates early in the month and I was planning on bringing my camera with me and document everything, take pictures and videos... Especially when one of our concerts was in the very centre of Prague. It was such a lovely weekend! We had first little bits of snow, the air was all fresh and exciting... and I wanted to capture that for my blog. Alas, being the forgetful little squirrel that I am, I ended up leaving the camera at home. ... No comment.

However, that wasn't the most exciting thing that happened last weekend. The prize for the biggest adventure goes to our choir-master (or is it mistress? What term do you use for a female conductor of a vocal group?) being indisposed. Our beloved boss was so ill that she couldn't make it to one of the dates and we had to give the concert on our own. Hahaaah :D That's what I call an adventure! All in all, I think it went fine. There were no major disasters, nothing fell apart so much that it couldn't be put back together. Oh, and I ended up conducting one of the big a capella pieces. Yipee... Not! I mean, I did all right, I guess. But it was so nerve-wracking! It was was a very strange and unusual feeling to stand outside of the sound of music (pun not intended), to stand in front of the song and wave my hands at it... And I found it much more difficult to face the choir, to look at my friends while conducting, that's much more difficult then keeping eye contact with the audience. I had no idea what I was doing, so I just tried to feel the song as best as I could, wave my hands somehow and get through it. And we did. Phew! But oooooooh the nerves :) Still, I didn't melt down under the pressure. So that's a big plus and smiley face for Maree! :))

Since I failed to take some romantic Prague-by-night pictures on the day of our concerts, I decided to go for a special little walk later in the week to make up for it. The photos I took were far from perfect, but I rose to the challenge and played a little (just a little) with photo-editing... to have something presentable to show you. Now you just have to scroll through all of these and please, let me know in the comments what you think of my photography attempts. Sorry, if this is a bit more photo-based blogpost with less words than usual. But sometimes I find myself speechless looking at the beauty of my hometown :) (Also, give me pretty lights and I'll just gush over anything. Really :) Here is a lot of Christmasy Prague pictures, with no snow. Snow failed to make an appearance. Not my fault, I assure you.

This one I am really really proud of. Don't know why. Must be the lamp posts or something.

I even took some video footage, which might generously be considered as my first attempt at vlogging. The results however, were more then dubious (terribly shaky and out of focus). We shall yet have to see whether I manage to edit my socks off and make some sort of a christmasy walking-around-shiny-places video. If I do, you will hear about it, don't worry.

For now though, Prague wishes you a happy and content Advent time with not too much rush and total lack of frenzy :) Save some excitement for later ;)

Tell me in the comments, how do you like to spend Decemeber? Do you dive into the festive spirit all at once or do you prefer to take it more slowly? I understand that regardless of commercial pressure, the traditions in different places are... different. So tell me something about your Christmas. I want to know :)