Christmas at Caleroga

December 13, 2009 - 11:26 PM

My 93-year-old grandmother lives at Caleroga Terrace, a convalescence home in downtown Portland. The Caleroga is a great place for her to live. They always have some kind of event to entertain the residents, and today, the event was a Christmas festival!

So my dad, my boyfriend Collin, and I went to the Caleroga today to spend the afternoon with my grandma Gwen.

Everyone was dressed in holiday garb and sat and dined on snacks, wine, and eggnog.

For the centerpiece, the owners of the Terrace found A cappella groups to come entertain all of the residents and guests.

One was a high school choir that was absolutely horrible. Terrible. I have never heard anything so excruciating in my entire life.

But there were two acts that were absolutely fantastic.

The first was a quartet of two men and two women who sang traditional Christmas carols, but the second and most impressive was a barbershop quartet, which was absolutely FABULOUS!

I had only heard a barbershop quartet once before when I was maybe 11 years old. I remember loving it then, a time when I was very involved with vocal performance, but I was even more impressed with the style of music this time around.

This is such a rich time in my life-one in which I am able to expose myself to so many beautiful facets of the world. I guess that is how you know you are maximizing your college years: if you are taking advantage of learning opportunities even outside of the classroom, you are making the best out of your education.