Busch Gardens ChristmasTown & Rejoice!

I disappeared briefly this weekend...took advantage of an opportunity that I was very excited about and not sure I'd get to share with this gal:

That's Dear Daughter in her Christmas job. Yes, that's a violin she's holding, did I never tell you that she's pretty good? (Like her mom, she let family siderail what might have been a career in the arts, but she's trying to make the most of her talent now). In that photo above, she's playing in an orchestra (I admit it's not a good photo, the theatre is dark, it's at night, and well, my camera is pretty much shot).

Let me share a few photos of Rejoice!, one of the Christmas Town programs at Busch Gardens Williamsburg:
This is the opening of the program as the male chorus begins.

There are two female vocalists who were really stellar. We got to meet them afterwards, and they're just lovely ladies...but the photo above is of the male chorus doing a pretty impressive light show with what appear to be mirrored trays - the timing and choreography was very impressive.

This gentleman was my favorite soloist but then he's got a pretty impressive background having done Broadway (doesn't he remind you of a certain knit-blogger?).
This photo is from the finale, but I really think you'll get a better idea of it by watching this brief video clip from the show.

Afterwards, we wandered back through England (if you know Busch Gardens, you'll know it's divided into countries, and Rejoice! is located in Ireland) we came to the London clock-tower and picked up the best darn hot chocolate I think I've ever had!
We really enjoyed listening to the carolers in the square.
Busch Gardens is decorated to the nines for the holiday - it literally took my breath away (and no, tho' it was frigid that night, it wasn't the cold that did that!)

Both entering and leaving the park you walk beneath these stars suspended over the walkways...each country has Christmas trees lighted in different colors (Ireland is green, England is blue, Italy is pink/purple) it's truly beautiful.

My family made this possible, sis-in-law drove us into Richmond to my niece's home, and my niece's husband drove us to and from Willliamsburg. I just can't thank them enough. We had to wait to leave Roanoke rather late on Friday afternoon, until SIL could leave work. We arrived in Richmond, and literally took a quick "necessary break" then piled right back into the car and drove to Williamsburg, barely making it thru the Busch Gardens gates, down thru England and up to Ireland and into our seats with only minutes to spare before the 9:30 p.m. show began (yes, that's right, we went to the LAST show of the night!). Then we turned around and drove back home on Saturday (okay, I know you won't be surprised to know that Sis-in-law and I did a bit of shopping before we came home, right?)!

After the show, though, we stopped for coffee and snacks so we could visit with my daughter. I am just so proud of her!


If you have the chance to visit Busch Gardens' Christmas Town, you won't be sorry. There are other shows, too, and they run at several different times during each day from now till the end of the year, except for Christmas Day. Had we thought about it a bit, we might have tried to plan to spend an entire day so we could ride the bucket rides over the park to see the lights (well okay, my fear of heights would keep me from that, but everyone else could go) and to check out all the shows and shops, maybe even take the train around the park! We might try to do that another year...