Christmas

If your Holiday celebrations haven’t had enough guitar, we've found something you should check out: The San Antonio Guitar Ensemble. Actually, it's two classical guitar ensembles, as creator Ted Schechter explains.

"One are the younger kids, who I call the guitar stars," he says. "Their average age is around ten, that’s a quartet. The older group is more teenagers, high school students…and they go anywhere from five to ten members."

[LATE-BREAKING CORRECTION: We misunderstood where the 24 hours of Elf was being planned. We thought it was USA, but it's actually Starz. Sorry, Starz!]

We’ve told you about many local holiday celebrations, but  here's one with a decidedly different angle.
First Presbyterian Church Minister of Music Tom Dooling tells me about the curiously titled Midday Noels--Titled that because they happen at 12:10 in the afternoon.

"It’s just a great break in the middle of the day for folks who work downtown to come and enjoy a brief concert— only about 30 or 40 minutes in length, [then] you can enjoy some lunch options, to get just a little bit of a Christmas break," Dooling explains.

Today is Poinsettia Day, officially declared so by an Act of Congress in 2002. The popular Christmas plant is estimated to pump $250 million into the U.S. economy each year. 

It’s one of San Antonio’s oddest, and really, most interesting holiday traditions--as many as twenty saxophonists on stage at the Guadalupe Theater, blowing away on a Christmas carol.

The number of saxophonists varies a bit from year to hear, but as to how many players will show up this year Holiday Saxophones founder and legendary local bassist George Prado says “Maybe twenty-five or more saxophonists, and they will play with a rhythm section.”  

This Sunday, the San Antonio Choral Society performs a concert at Our Lady of Atonement Catholic Church that aims to tell "the true story of Santa Claus," according to the group's Artistic Director, Jennifer Seighman. 

"It really begins with Nicolas," Seighman continues. “Some of the miracles associated with him, some of the legends, are what evolved into the story that we know of Santa Claus.”

Swim With The Elves is a holiday event for San Antonio kids that is like no other.

"We’re inviting kids to come out and join us. It’s on Saturday, December 14, from noon to 2 p.m." said Hank Salinas, the assistant parks and recreation manger. "Children 12 and under are invited but 10 and under must be accompanied by adults."

If you’re wondering whether or not you can work in another costly Christmas event, good news from Hank.

"It is a free event, and we’d like the families to come out, the parents to come out and enjoy themselves too,"  Salinas said.