Christmas Tradition

David and his friends have a Christmas tradition of going to the Men and Boys Choir performance at Grace Cathedral Church in December. They have been doing this for 25 years! And this year, I was part of this lovely tradition.

The church is amazing. It's like the churches you find in Europe. Huge and magnificent. Grand and elegant. This church was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake. Work began on the present structure in 1928 and was completed in 1964. It is the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the nation. You must see the pictures on their web site. David and I drove to San Francisco and met the group in the coffee shop, which is in the basement of the church. Then we went up into the church and were seated. These performances are reserved seating, which is nice because we knew that we would all get to sit together. We were a large enough group (7) so that we had a pew to ourselves.

Here we are in our pew. (David is taking the picture.) I'm not identifying our friends because I haven't asked them if I can use their names on my blog.

The lights dimmed and then came back up. The choir walked in two by two to the back of the church. And then, without accompaniment they began to sing. The music flowed over you and around you. You felt encased in the lovely sound. The acoustics are not perfect. It was difficult to understand the words, but I was completely swept away in the music.

Image hearing singing and looking at this.


This was behind me. Notice the pipes for the organ.

After the performance, we gathered for a picture.

Then we walked to the Fairmont Hotel to see their decorations. In the lobby, there was a life size gingerbread house that you could walk through. Amazing.

This is on the stairs in the Fairmont.

Then we walked to the Wayfare Tavern for dinner. I was very surprised at how good the food was. When I see the word Tavern, I think bar food. Not by a long shot!

They had the most unusual dessert menu I've ever seen. Take a look. Double click on the image so you can read the details.

I had the Sticky Toffee Pudding (roasted pears, black pepper ice cream).


After dinner, David and I drove around Union Square. I was disappointed. Macy's had decorated only two windows and Saxs had only hung some large round ornaments in their windows. But of course, everyone is affected by the economy.

Until that day, I wasn't in the Christmas spirit. With the house being a wreck and no decorations, it just didn't feel like Christmas.

But being in that church, being with such lovey people, and seeing the crowds in Union Square really helped.