christmas sing-a-long. sufjan style.

The first sign of Christmas around our house is the sound of Sufjan Stevens and his multitude of Christmas tunes. I knew we had to go to his Christmas Sing-a-long (where he was promoting another huge batch of newly released Christmas songs...we're up to 10 volumes now!) and it was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season.

The show was fantastic. Really fantastic. I was so glad it was at a smaller venue. They had a massive wheel on stage that they would spin to determine which song we'd sing. Lyrics and instructions were handed out (see below). The show alternated between Sufjan and company performing and audience singing along.

He ended with the epic "Christmas Unicorn" song which evolves into a fantastic cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (and involved throwing inflatable unicorns out to the audience). And then came back for an encore of classic Sufjan. (Go here for some great photos of the craziness taken at a different show.)

I'd be happy to make this a new tradition.

We ended the evening with donuts and hot chocolate. It just seemed like the right thing to do.