Cookies and Carols this Thursday with the Manchester Historical Society

"A Brush for the Lead", traditional lithographic print, by Currier and Ives. (via Wikimedia)

This Thursday you and your family can sing Christmas carols, share cookies, and enjoy good fun with the Manchester Historical Society. The event will be from 7:30pm to about 8:30pm at the Sharon United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall out north of the Village on M-52, (technically, 19980 Pleasant Lake Road, at the corner with M-52).

The Carols and Cookies Exchange has been celebrated by the Society for more than 20 years. "Everyone in the community is invited!" says Sharon Curtis, Society Treasurer. All you need to do is bring a plate of cookies to share, a love of singing carols, and some good will toward your fellow man. Cookies are set out on a table, with some sampling. Then singing will be led by Society member Doug Howell, an accomplished pianist and vocalist. A regular highlight of the event is when local artist Nancy Feldkamp sits at the piano with Doug and they perform a four-hand rendition of "Sleigh Ride", the jaunty Christmas classic by American Composer Leroy Anderson.

The evening is traditionally closed with more carols, and a special German rendition of Silent Night. After singing, more cookies! Some of the cookies are collected into a donation for the Manchester Family Services food baskets. And the remaining cookies are packaged up for people to take home.

"My favorite carol is 'Away in a Manger'," reports Curtis. It takes her back to being in church on Christmas Eve with her grandmother.

Memories like that are the heart of the season.

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by Fritz Swanson

Fritz Swanson has written for The Believer, the Christian Science Monitor, Print Magazine, McSweeney's, Esopus, LSA Magazine, and The Mid-American Review. He serves as a trustee on the Manchester District Library Board. He's the designer and publisher of The Manchester Mirror.

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