More Singing with the Stars

'Tis the season! With the Disney parks nearby, it begins to look a lot Christmas right around November 1st, but it never feels like Christmas to me until I get to sing some Christmas music! In college, I always had our candlelight concerts to look forward to and to generate holiday cheer, and now we have Epcot's Candlelight Processional to take its place. This week Eric and I sang in the cast choir in our first show of the season with John O'Hurley as the celebrity guest narrator. He interpreted the Christmas story wonderfully. By the end of the show, it really felt like the holidays were on their way!

Then last night, we got to see the Singing Christmas Trees at First Baptist Church in Orlando. My friend Rachel was playing the part of Mary in the show so she graciously invited us to the opening night! It was an amazing spectacle--literally two 40-foot tree-shapes full of hundreds of choir singers and thousands of twinkly lights!

Tomorrow I'm attending my first holiday function of the season, a brunch with the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega, and we'll be stopping by a few other soirees throughout the season and probably even hosting one of our own. Then the next two Sundays will be the Christmas cantata at my church. And, of course, today we had the filming for the (newly renamed) 2009 Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade with Celine Dion! Rainy weather forced us out of the Magic Kingdom, but we ended up at the beautiful Grand Floridian hotel for the performance. Everyone involved really came together (and quickly!) to make everything go smoothly. Celine (we're so totally on a first name basis now) was amazing and totally gracious--she even gave Clay, our director, a much-deserved shout-out at the end of the shoot. Plus she looked fabulous!

EDIT: Here is a link to a post on the official Disney Parks blog about the taping. You can't see us in the picture, but it still looks cool!

If you're looking for us on Christmas morning, we're the very last number on the program, O Come All Ye Faithful. Nick Cannon--who's co-hosting the parade this year with Kelly Ripa--even announced the name of our group, Encore Cast Choir! The whole choir is in gold robes, and Eric and I are on the far right side of the group when you are looking at the whole group on the screen. I'm the one with a giant grin on my face! Hopefully we'll get some face time on ABC--we were all feeling very Hollywood today. The most ironic thing is that we don't have cable so I hope they put the video online so we can see ourselves!

All in all, it's been a very eventful (and exclamation point-worthy!) week and we're definitely in the holiday spirit now. The house is decorated, the shopping is underway, and, of course, there will be lots more singing. Here is our tentative Epcot Candlelight Processional schedule for this season:

• Monday, December 7 at 5:00pm with Anika Noni Rose
• Sunday, December 13 at 6:45pm and 8:15 with Vanessa Williams
• Tuesday, December 15 at 5:00pm with Abigail Breslin
• Friday, December 18 (Eric's Birthday!) at 5:00pm with Whoopi Goldberg
• Monday, December 21 at 5:00pm with Brian Dennehy

Entertainment is subject to change. While supplies last. Void where prohibited. All rights reserved, y'all.