Get in the Christmas Spirit Tonight

I don't know what it's like in the rest of the province but here in Cumberland County, most of us are suffering from that rare virus, the Christmas cold. It comes with Advent and is the kind that ends up as laryngitis then a lingering, incessant dry throat-clearing.
It's the worst kind of cold to have at this kind of year. We're singing a lot more (and some of those carols are pitched rather high) and ministers/pastors/priests are speaking a lot more. We're running around more than usual; who has time to lie down on Saturday afternoon for a nap at any other time of the year, let alone in mid-December?
But it's amazing how we all persevere. We clear our throats and beg pardon for sounding croaky. We compare the number of days we went without a voice (three seems to be the average; anyone else pop a disc in their mid-back from coughing or am I the only lucky one?).
Last night, I attended the dress rehearsal for the Pugwash Community Christmas Musical in order to snap a photo for the newspaper's Christmas issue (Dec. 19) and everyone was coughing this dry, nagging cough.
"Don't come near me, I'm contaminated!" I heard one choir member say.
But the church was cold enough that I don't think the germs would survive.
If you are in the area, you should come to this concert this evening, in Pugwash, at the United Church on Church Street. It starts at 7 pm but by the amount of chairs set up in the overflow room, you'd best arrive by 6:30 to get a seat. The music will be great and the church looks lovely in its seasonal greenery but the 40-feet Christmas tree in the sanctuary alone is worth the drive. And tonight, the church will be warm. All three furnaces will be going and there will be lots of happy people and warm greetings to keep the cold away.
It occurred to me that the ushers should hand out throat lozenges with the programs but having heard the rehearsal, the band and the 43-member choir and the kids in their fabulous costumes will drown out any coughing fit that might come upon us after singing.