Posted by: Andrew Holt in Music, Culture, Art on
Dec 20, 2010
As the crowd hummed with excitement, moments before the wine colored curtain of Cordiner Hall lifted, it was strikingly apparent that this was not just another Symphony event in Walla Walla. The bi-annual production of the Nutcracker Suite by the Walla Walla Orchestra and the Eugene Ballet far transcends the parameters of a night at the symphony.
It is a night that is cherished by families throughout the community, for it is a Christmas tradition. At the Walla Walla Nutcracker performance, instead of limos arriving with well dressed couples, vans doors slide open as every member of the family from grandparents to great grandchildren spill out in their Sunday best. Groups of 8 or 10 enter together, with the little ones trying to scurry ahead in their excitement.
The Nutcracker Suite is a night for elders to savor the music and dance that has brightened their holiday season for a lifetime while relaying to their young descendants the first time they saw the Nutcracker. Little girls, some only three years old, romping in their holiday dresses, squirmed in their seats and asked a million questions about "what was this and what was that?"
Posted by: Becky St. Clair in Food, Business on
Dec 15, 2010
Ever wondered what an oak tree would taste like in a truffle? How about chili pepper? Mango citrus? Lavender? I'll be honest and say I never did, but the answers are delicious, strangely sweet, luscious and perfect, respectively. Just in case you were wondering.
With the cooler weather settling in as the official end of autumn acclimates us for a Walla Walla winter, many minds turn their thoughts to indoor activities. The Walla Walla Valley offers plenty of opportunities for outdoor entertainment in the warmer months - farmer's market, an aviary, the fair, multiple parks, a gorgeous Main street for perusing on foot - but when winter arrives, it's time to evaluate options for indoor diversions.
Posted by: Becky St. Clair in Tradition on
Dec 08, 2010
I love traditions. Especially when it comes to Christmas. When I was a kid, my sisters and I started one when we got out the sleeping bags and camped out under the Christmas tree in the living room on Christmas Eve. I'd read to them: "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "The Night Before Christmas," and eventually, "Rudolph's Second Christmas" (as is typical with sequels, it's not as good as the first). Then we'd fall asleep in the glow of the multi-coloured Christmas lights, visions of something more akin to French toast than sugar plums dancing in our heads.
As a parent, I have every intention of starting holiday traditions with my own children (my first and only is 16 months old, so she's not quite ready for them yet). They may include attending midnight mass on Christmas Eve, putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, making and decorating sugar cookies to give to the neighbours, or things I've yet to think of.
Every town has its own traditions as well, and Walla Walla is no exception. For instance, each year at the beginning of December hundreds of locals gather downtown to watch the Christmas tree light up for the first time that season, coupled with a brilliant display of lights and music in the annual Parade of Lights. Walla Walla University in College Place just brought back its age-old tradition of a tree-lighting ceremony, and it includes cookies and hot drinks, as well as Christmas music, all of which makes me giddy with holiday excitement like a 5-year-old on Christmas morning.
Which is only appropriate, seeing as how I still sleep under the Christmas tree with my sisters on Christmas Eve when we're at home.
