Celebrate Christmas Around the World

Looking for a wonderful respite from the craziness of the malls & shops?

Or maybe you need some Christmas music to get you in the holiday mood?

Perhaps you're curious what carols are sung in other parts of the world?

If so - there's a wonderful concert happening in Vienna this Saturday (December 20th). Vienna Choral Society is presenting "Nowell e Navidad - Christmas Around The World".

Not only will you hear the Vienna Choral Society (who are top notch!), but you will be treated to guest performances from the children of the Bridges Choir and the Vienna Jammers! (Sounds like this show will be rockin!)

In addition to traditional Christmas carols, they will share songs sung in Latvia, Scandinavia, South America & the West Indies. What fun! You can travel the world, without leaving your seat, AND the show is family friendly. Children under 14 are free with a paying adult. (Seniors get a discount too!). You can buy tickets online or at the door. Shows starts at 4:30PM at Vienna Baptist.

Live music is just one of the many things we love about living in Vienna. And it sounds like this is a do not miss event!

Hearts of Gold in Vienna

There's a quote from Maya Angelou that goes like this:

"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold -- but so does a hard-boiled egg."

Well, I am happy to say there are no bad eggs here. The people of Vienna have true hearts of gold.

How do I know?

Well, here's just another example.

Last week an urgent message came across my email from CHO. CHO is an ALL volunteer organization in Vienna that helps the poor in Vienna, Dunn Loring & Merrifield. (And yes - they unfortunately do exist right here in our midst.) They provide emergency financial assistance, meals on wheels, transportation, food, clothing and more.

Well - last Saturday was supposed to be CHO's annual toy shopping day for approximately 400 needy children. Five days before the event, CHO found out that the company who normally makes the biggest donation to support them each year would not be able to donate. Christmas was in jeopardy.

Out went an emergency notice to their ListServ and I posted it on my Facebook page.

Less than 24 hours later a little birdie told me that the problem was solved because of two big Vienna hearts.

One of my Facebook friends happens to be Sandy Booze, Office Manager for Sekas Homes. She saw my post, did some research & brought CHO's plight to the attention of another person with a great big heart - the owner of Sekas Homes, John Sekas.

John & his wife Darcy immediately reached out to CHO with an offer to make them whole and that same day CHO received a check. They are people of action, not just people of good intentions. And this is not the first time the Sekas Family has been so generous. In fact they have quite a reputation in the community for doing things like this.

Christmas for 139 families happened last Saturday thanks to John & Darcy Sekas and many hearts of gold in the Vienna community. Kudos to them and to the many volunteers at CHO.

If you would like to donate to this wonderful local Vienna organization, you can find details on how to donate to CHO here.

(And if you want to live in the awesome Town of Vienna, VA - you can search Vienna homes for sale here!)