Last Saturday was Mer’s day, but first I had a rendezvous with my CVCA Connections Group at Steak and Shake in Streetsboro. Five of the guys showed up, and we laughed a lot – talked mostly about school and sports and food. To my recollection, it was the first time I had ever been to a Steak and Shake, and I approved – good fast food and pretty good shakes (I got an Oreo one).

I got back home at about 1:30, and Mer whisked me off to Akron, to EJ Thomas Hall on the edge of the University of Akron’s campus. After our being here in Ohio (version 2.0) for ten years, she was finally getting me to Tuba Christmas! Tuba Christmas, not surprisingly, is a tradition in many cities of having lots of people gather to listen to members of the whole tuba family play Christmas carols; the tubas play through the song once, and the audience joins in the second time around (singing, not playing tubas). The concert is free, and I had been curious about it for years.

We had no idea. There were 500 tubas on the stage. EJ Thomas had two shows that day, and both shows were packed out (and EJ holds 1100 people!). It was great! Many of the larger tubas were decorated with lights and garlands, and it is hard not to be joyous when seeing and hearing that much brass. It really made my entire holiday season – I strongly recommend going next year if your locale has a show (over 200 locations worldwide). Sadly, I forgot my camera, so no pictures.

After the rather wonderful concert, we headed over to Abby’s house. Abby is a colleague, and she was hosting the accounting department’s Christmas party this year. Since the CFO of the school is my boss, I get invited. I know the stereotypes about accountants, but this was a fun party before, and it turned out to be a good one this year too. The president of CVCA and his wife also get to come, and the president has really understated humor that I love, and his wife is an extrovert and a total stitch.

There is always a white elephant gift exchange, and this year Mer got a John Wayne video that has made the rounds for years. She mentioned that she was going to actually open the cellophane and watch it, so the person who gave it out actually stole it back (part of the white elephant game) so the sacred plastic would not be broken. That was amusing. I stole a shirt for Mer’s classroom decor – it simply says on the the front, “I’m not bossy, I just know what you should be doing.” Mer loved it. Mer finally ended up with the gift that we brought – a couple of older, but still useful, Rick Steves travel books. Since Mer had them in her classroom as well, she was content with that.

Steak and Shake, tubas, and white elephants. Oh, my.