Tag Archives: Christmas

Our 2025 holiday handbell performances

holiday entertainment Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla

Our 2025 holiday handbell performances are finished! It’s time to thank everyone involved, and to look back at a fun December of duet-ringing!

We had busy holiday performance season this year. We were very fortunate with the weather, and the fact that we didn’t have to travel long distances to get to any of our Christmas gigs. That’s very helpful in Michigan. Our Christmas handbell performances are often booked months in advance, and there’s no way to know what the weather’s going to do! We just hope for the best, and remember to allow extra time for travel. We’ve never been late for any of our holiday handbell performances yet!

Here are some of the highlights from our 2025 holiday season:

Handbells on WOOD TV8

Our holiday performance season began early this year, with a short-notice booking for November 19th! This was for an appearance on the WOOD TV8 Daybreak show. The show was being presented live from the Christkindl Markt in Grand Rapids. Even though we wouldn’t be playing handbells while the market was open, we were invited to go and add to the holiday atmosphere with some Christmas ringing. This involved waking up at 3:30am, and arriving at the market at 5:15am on a very cold day! Still, we had fun, and we met Santa while we were there! Interestingly, the Santa we met there was not the official Christkindl Markt Santa. He was a very good one, though!

handbell ringers with Santa at Christkindl Markt Grand Rapids
Trying not to look too cold, in Grand Rapids early in the morning

Glad to be back indoors for a while!

After that wintry start to our holiday performances, we were thankful to be indoors for a candlelight Advent evening in Marne. This was a nice opportunity to play some of our “it’s not quite Christmas yet” pieces, although we were happy to fulfil a surprise request for Jingle Bells at the end of the evening!

Later in December, we were welcomed back to The Village at the Pines in Grand Haven, where we enjoyed sharing some Advent and Christmas handbell duets with residents. It’s always such a friendly place! Several of the residents (and a staff member) played Jingle Bells on handchimes, and did very well. We have a version that uses words instead of music notation, and that makes it easier, although a couple of the residents had played handbells before, and their experience definitely showed!

For the first time, we shared our handbell music at The Warm Friend (Resthaven) in Holland, and appreciated all the interesting questions we received from the audience. We felt as if we could have stayed all afternoon and talked about handbells with the residents there! We took extra handbells and handchimes with us to this performance, so we added a smaller percussion table to the side of our usual table. This enabled us to demonstrate Savior of the Nations, Come on lower bells than we’d usually use, and to use handchimes for a couple of our pieces too.

Holiday handbell performances - Resthaven The Warm Friend in Holland, Michigan
A larger-than-usual set-up at The Warm Friend

Handbells at the Kerstmarkt-Holland

We enjoyed two evenings ringing at the Kerstmarkt in downtown Holland. We’ve been playing at this European-style Christmas market for some years now, and we always love it there. This year, we were very fortunate with the weather. We had just a few flurries of gently swirling snow, but the temperature on both evenings was mild by Michigan winter standards. We were wearing multiple layers of clothing, which helped a lot too, and we were grateful for the loan of a heater from Shady Side Farm. This holiday market is always such a fun, festive event, and it turns out that Santa and Mrs Claus love handbell music too!

Santa at Kerstmarkt in downtown Holland
So many layers of clothing, and we have a feeling Santa and Mrs Claus had the same idea!

Another cold (but festive) evening at Otsego Hometown Christmas

Thanks to Otsego District Public Library for sponsoring our evening at Otsego Hometown Christmas! This is always a chilly event to play at, but the warmth of the welcome makes up for it, and this year we particularly loved how many children came to listen to our handbell music. They asked interesting questions too, and it was an opportunity for us to educate as well as to entertain. This is a wonderful community event, and we’re always happy to be part of it.

handbell ringers at Otsego Hometown Christmas
Holiday handbell performances outdoors can be cold, but so much fun!

A concert with the Zeeland Community Band

We joined our friends at the Zeeland Community Band for their concert at Freedom Village. This concert included some pieces that were familiar to us, and others that were new. We played a 15-minute prelude, then three of our own pieces in the middle of the concert, and added our handbells to three of the band’s pieces. The concert was very well attended, and was a wonderful way to share the spirit of Christmas with this retirement community in Holland. We also appreciated being able to play our recent arrangement of Ring the Bells, accompanied by the band’s director Rose Wiersma on piano. We didn’t get a video of the performance, but here’s our recording at home, so you’ll get the idea.

Another performance at the Gary Byker Memorial Library of Hudsonville

We were pleased to be invited back to the library in Hudsonville for another holiday handbell performance. This was our seventh year at this Ringing in Christmas event hosted by the Friends of the Library, and after last December’s slightly-too-exciting drive through the snow, we were thankful for much kinder weather this time! The event is always popular, and audience members appreciate homemade treats provided by the Friends, and the opportunity to ask all their burning questions about handbells! Well, we like to think they have burning questions, of course, even though they’ve probably had them all answered by now. Thanks to audience member Steve Snow for this photo of us in action!

Deep in concentration at Hudsonville Libary’s Ringing in Christmas program. (Photo credit: Steve Snow)

Handbells in worship during Advent

We have quite a lot of Advent hymns for just eight bells now, but it’s still rare for us to be invited to play in churches here in Michigan during the run-up to Christmas. This December, we played at three churches; one on the third Sunday of Advent, in Grand Haven, and two on Christmas Eve, in Holland and Kalamazoo.

Handbells at St Paul's UCC Grand Haven, Michigan
Handbell duets at the Advent service at St. Paul’s UCC in Grand Haven, Michigan

Playing in two different places made for a busy Christmas Eve and a very late night/early morning. It was worth it, though, because there’s something so special about welcoming Christmas morning with handbells, especially when candlelight is involved.

holiday handbell performances - Advent with Larry and Carla

Lots of activity on our Facebook page!

Apart from our handbell duet performances, and concerts with Kalamazoo Ringers, we also recorded and shared a lot of handbell duets on our Facebook page during the run-up to Christmas. If you didn’t catch up with us at any of our performances, we encourage you to look at Facebook and watch our videos (now called Reels). We hope you’ll enjoy continuing to celebrate Christmas with us online!

Special thanks to those who made our 2025 holiday handbell performances possible:

WOOD-TV 8
Kerstmarkt-Holland
Shady Side Farm, Holland, MI
St. Mary Catholic Church, Marne, MI
The Village at the Pines, Grand Haven, MI
Zeeland Community Band
Otsego District Public Library, MI
Zeeland Community Band
Resthaven The Warm Friend, Holland, MI
Friends of the Gary Byker Library, Hudsonville, MI
Internet Archive
St. Pauls United Church of Christ, Grand Haven, MI
Providence Church, Holland, MI
First United Methodist Church, Kalamazoo, MI
and others who booked us for private events.

We’d like to thank everyone who helped to make this holiday season bright and busy for us. If you booked us for a performance or Christmas program or wrote a review of a performance – thank you. To those who took the time to say thank you after a performance, offered us coffee, chatted with us, or wished us safe travels – thank you. If you followed our Facebook page, watched or shared any of our Christmas videos, emailed us, downloaded sheet music from our music site, or purchased a copy of The Bass Ringer’s Notebook – we appreciate you too! 

holiday entertainment Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla


To all who celebrated this holiday season, we hope you had a wonderful time. We wish you all a happy and healthy 2026!

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – easy handbell music for Advent

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is one of the most popular hymns for the Advent and Christmas season. We were recently asked for a straightforward 2-3 octave arrangement, designed for beginning and improving handbell choirs.

Here’s our demonstration video of this Level 1+ piece.

More information about this 2-3 octave arrangement

Click here to go to the Choraegus website

This arrangement of O Come, O Come, Emmanuel is written with beginning/improving handbell choirs in mind. There are lots of chords, and lots of quarter notes; ideal for less-confident ringers. It’s a no-frills arrangement, and you can add as many repeats as you need. This arrangement is also suitable to be played on handchimes if you prefer. Sheet music is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. We offer the full choir license at a bargain price for this “no frills” arrangement. Purchase gives you our no-fuss permission to print up to 15 copies for your group.

Your purchase of the full-choir license allows you to perform, broadcast and live-stream this piece as part of a concert or worship service. There’s no need for any additional license or fee. We ask that you credit the arranger (Larry Sue) and publisher (Choraegus) in any printed media such as concert programs, and online (in video descriptions). Please see our licensing agreement for full details. 

We appreciate your help in spreading the word about Choraegus handbell music. If you record a video of your group playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it. You’re welcome to share it with us by email or on our Facebook page!

Please note that Choraegus handbell music is designed to come to you as a downloadable PDF file. You’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, we recommend our step-by-step guide. We designed this guide to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, or any of our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. If someone has asked us a question even once, it will be there, along with the answer. Please contact us if you don’t find the information you need, and we’ll be happy to help.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - easy handbell music from Choraegus

Deck the Halls – new 12-bell music from Choraegus

Deck the Halls is a traditional carol with a Welsh tune that dates back to the 16th century. The original Nos Galan drinking song was part of the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Wales, and the lyrics had nothing to do with Christmas, and more to do with drinking!

“Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
‘Tis the season to be jolly:
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Fill the meadcup, drain the barrel,
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!
Troul the ancient Christmas carol.
Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la!”

The English lyrics were written in 1862 by Scottish musician Thomas Oliphant. Over the years, the words have changed even more, with the drinking references gone in the later versions.

In case you’re wondering about the “correctness” of the title, Deck the Hall (singular) was used in the original English version. Our late friend Tim Waugh was always insistent that only one hall should be involved. However, the plural “halls” has been widely used since the late 1800s, so we believe that either version is acceptable. Our 12-bell arrangement only has the melody and not the lyrics, so if you want to change the title and call it Deck the Hall, that’s no problem at all.

Here’s our demonstration video, recorded on a sunny afternoon in July:

More information about Deck the Halls

As with all Choraegus 12-bell pieces, Deck the Halls is suitable for 3-6 ringers. Sheet music for this arrangement is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. Each arrangement is available for three different ranges of handbells, so you can choose which you prefer. Please refer to the bells-used charts on the Choraegus webpage to make sure you have all the bells you need, and make sure you purchase the right version!

Click here to find 12-bell Deck the Halls on the Choraegus website

Other versions of Deck the Halls

We also have an 8-bell arrangement of Deck the Halls, available to download from Choraegus.

Important things to know about Choraegus handbell music

Choraegus handbell music scores are designed to be downloaded as PDF files. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchasing a 12-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so please don’t pay for more copies than you need! A practice track is also available separately – useful if your ringers need to practise their parts without the full group being available.

Your purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the arranger (Larry Sue) and the publisher of the piece (Choraegus) on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs. We appreciate your help in getting the word out about Choraegus handbell music – and if you make a video of your handbell group playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it!

If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll be happy to help!

Deck the Halls - Christmas handbell music from Choraegus

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly – new 12-bell music for Christmas

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly is a traditional Polish Christmas carol. The song was originally titled W Żłobie Leży (In the Manger He Lies), and it was translated into English as Infant Holy, Infant Lowly in 1920. It’s thought that the melody could date back to the thirteenth century.

“Infant holy, infant lowly,
For His bed a cattle stall.
Oxen lowing, little knowing,
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging, angels singing,
Noels ringing, tidings bringing,
Christ the babe is Lord of all.”

We recorded our demonstration video on a hot day in July. If you use your imagination, you might think that the harsh sunlight on the trees and grass behind us is soft, billowing snow. If not, it can just be a Christmas in July thing. After all, if we waited until December to publish new handbell music, no one would have time to learn it!

More information about Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

As with all Choraegus 12-bell pieces, Infant Holy, Infant Lowly is suitable for 3-6 ringers. Sheet music for this arrangement is available to purchase and download from Choraegus. Each arrangement is available for three different ranges of handbells, so you can choose which you prefer. Please refer to the bells-used charts on the Choraegus webpage to make sure you have all the bells you need, and make sure you purchase the right version!

Click here to find Infant Holy, Infant Lowly on the Choraegus website

Other versions of Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

We have other arrangements of Infant Holy, Infant Lowly, available to download from Choraegus. We have two 8-bell versions; one standard and one Surprisingly Easy™. We also have a Level 2 arrangement for 3 octaves.

Things to know about Choraegus handbell music

Choraegus handbell music scores are designed to be downloaded as PDF files. That means you’ll be responsible for printing your own music, and you won’t receive anything in the mail. Purchasing a 12-bell arrangement gives you permission to print and maintain up to six copies for your handbell group – so please don’t pay for more copies than you need! A practice track is also available separately – useful if your ringers need to practise their parts without the full group being available.

Your purchase also gives permission for performance, broadcasting, live-streaming and video-sharing online. See our licensing agreement for full details. Please remember to mention the arranger (Larry Sue) and the publisher of the piece (Choraegus) on video-sharing sites, social media and any printed materials such as concert programs. We appreciate your help in getting the word out about Choraegus handbell music – and if you make a video of your handbell choir playing any of our pieces, we’d love to see it!

If you haven’t purchased music online from Choraegus before, you might like to look at our step-by-step guide. We designed this to help you navigate the purchase and download process in a (we hope!) stress-free way.

Any questions?

If you have any questions about our music, please start by reading our Frequently-Asked Questions. Please contact us if you don’t find the answers you need, and we’ll be happy to help!

Infant Holy, Infant Lowly - handbell music from Choraegus

Kerstmarkt-Holland Handbell Duets

December 12 at 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST

The Kerstmarkt-Holland 2025 is a great opportunity to see and hear local handbell duo Larry and Carla, who will be playing traditional Christmas handbell music on two Friday evenings in November and December.

The Kerstmarkt is an open-air European-style holiday market located at the 8th Street Marketplace in Downtown Holland. It’s an annual event, and a wonderful opportunity to shop for unique handcrafted gifts and locally-made holiday treats. This isn’t the kind of market that’s filled with mass-produced items that you can easily find online. There are local sellers who will talk with you about their crafts, and sometimes you can even watch items being made! On cold winter evenings, it’s nice to listen to beautiful handbell music as you shop. Coffee, hot cider and food will also be available at this event. It’s your chance to try traditional Dutch treats such as pigs-in-blankets, banket (sweet pastries with almond paste filling), and stroopwafels!

Kerstmarkt Holland handbells in the snow

Things to know about the Kerstmarkt in Holland

Most of the Kerstmarkt is under cover, so you can shop for gifts comfortably there. The street isn’t icy underfoot. The city’s famous “snowmelt” system makes it safe to walk on the heated sidewalks, even if the weather is wintry. The Kerstmarkt will give you a taste of a traditional European Christmas market, without having to fly to Europe! There are plenty of shops and restaurants close by, and lots to do in downtown Holland. Come for the day, and enjoy the holiday atmosphere!

The weather can be unpredictable in December, so dress warmly and prepare for snow or rain! Whatever the Michigan winter throws at us, this traditional market is always worth a visit. Check the Kerstmarkt website for other special events, such as Dickens Carolers and sled dogs, and bring your family and friends!

Kerstmarkt Holland Sinterklaas with handbell ringers
Free Admission is free, but tips for the musicians are appreciated!

Kerstmarkt-Holland

View Organizer Website

Kerstmarkt – Holland

150 W 8th St
Holland, MI 49423 United States + Google Map

Handbells at the Kerstmarkt-Holland 2025

November 28 at 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm EST

The Kerstmarkt-Holland 2025 is a great opportunity to see and hear local handbell duo Larry and Carla, who will be playing traditional Christmas handbell music on two Friday evenings in November and December.

The Kerstmarkt is an annual open-air European-style Christmas market located at the 8th Street Marketplace in Downtown Holland. Come and listen to beautiful festive music as you shop for unique handcrafted gifts and locally-made holiday treats. Coffee and hot cider will be available to help you stay warm!

Kerstmarkt-Holland handbells

Most of the Kerstmarkt is under cover, so you can shop for gifts comfortably there. The market is located in downtown Holland, so there are plenty of shops and restaurants close by. There’s enough to do that you could easily turn a visit to the Kerstmarkt into a day trip. The city’s famous “snowmelt” system makes it safe to walk on the heated sidewalks, even if the weather is wintry. The Kerstmarkt will give you a taste of a traditional European Christmas market, without having to fly to Europe!

The weather is unpredictable in December. Whilst it’s safe to walk in downtown Holland in the winter months, it’s wise to dress warmly. Here’s a photo from Kerstmarkt opening day, on a chilly Saturday in 2022!

Admission is free, but tips for the musicians are appreciated!

Kerstmarkt-Holland

View Organizer Website

Kerstmarkt – Holland

150 W 8th St
Holland, MI 49423 United States + Google Map

Ringing in Christmas at Hudsonville Library

December 11 at 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST

Ringing in Christmas! Enjoy the traditional sounds of Christmas handbells at Hudsonville Library! Michigan handbell duo Larry and Carla will be back for the seventh time with a program of handbell duets!

Hudsonville Library - Christmas handbell event

More about Larry and Carla

Larry and Carla started playing handbells when Carla lived in England and Larry lived in California. Their shared love of these unusual musical instruments led to a chance meeting online! Larry and Carla spent nearly three years in a long-distance relationship, and eventually they were able to go through the US visa process before getting married in California in 2012. They moved from California to Holland, Michigan in the summer of 2016, and became West Michigan’s Smallest Handbell Choir! They play duets using just eight handbells, and love to show how much music can be played using such a small number of bells.

This will be Larry and Carla’s seventh time at this popular Hudsonville Library holiday event. They’ll demonstrate the art of playing handbells by holding two bells in each hand. Their program will include some well-known carols, as well as some less-familiar holiday tunes from around the world. You’ll also hear music played on a set of of handchimes, and perhaps even have a chance to try playing them! There will be plenty of opportunity to ask all your burning questions about handbells, and coffee and snacks will be provided.;

Not sure what to expect? Here’s a recording of Larry and Carla playing handbells in their home last Christmas:

We look forward to welcoming you to Ringing in Christmas, presented by the Friends of the Gary Byker Memorial Library.

Ringing in Christmas - a handbell concert at Hudsonville Library, by Larry and Carla, on December 11th 2025 at 1pm.

Ringing in Christmas – a note about winter weather!

NOTE: If the weather’s bad on the day, please check with the library (or on our Facebook page) before venturing out. If the library’s open, we’ll plan to be there, but your safety is always a priority. Here’s a photo from last December, when the snow was falling heavily but the event still happened as planned. Now that we’ve lived in Michigan for a few years, we’re used to all the fun of the winter snowstorms!

Hudsonville Library in the snow
Free to attend; a donation to the Friends of the Library is appreciated

Kerstmarkt – Holland

150 W 8th St
Holland, MI 49423 United States + Google Map

Friends of the Gary Byker Memorial Library

View Organizer Website

Silver Bells – for Handbells – arranged by Larry and Carla Sue

Silver Bells is a wonderfully nostalgic Christmas song from the 1950s. It was written by Ray Evans and Jay Livingston, and was used in the 1951 movie The Lemon Drop Kid. It was first sung by Bing Crosby and Carol Richards, and has since been recorded by many others, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Michael Bublé and The Temptations. We recently had fun arranging and recording a brand-new arrangement of Silver Bells for handbells!

Silver Bells is a Level 4 arrangement for 3-7 octaves of handbells and 3 octaves of handchimes. If you don’t have handchimes, you could still play it without them, but the chimes definitely add an interesting texture. We have some borrowed Silver Melody Bells, so we used those instead of the handchimes at the beginning and end of the piece, so that’s another option if you have “alternate” bells, like Petit and Fritsens or Whitechapels. You could even use malleted bells on a bell tree. You get to decide how creative you want to be!

The score for Silver Bells is available to download from Sheet Music Plus/Sheet Music Direct, either as a single copy (for massed ringing events, or as a preview) and as a full-choir version. If you’d like to find out more about purchase options, please visit our Choraegus website!

Other recent Christmas titles from Choraegus

Winter Wonderland

Larry’s recent 5-octave arrangement of Winter Wonderland is an exciting challenge for advanced handbell choirs! This piece is available from Sheet Music Plus, in either a single-copy version, or a full-choir score. Find out more on our music site!

Ukrainian Carol of the Bells

This 5-7 octave, Level 4 arrangement makes the perfect concert-closer or encore piece for a holiday concert! Sheet music is available to download from Choraegus.

There are lots more Christmas and holiday arrangements available from Choraegus, so please feel welcome to browse our music site! If there are any Christmas carols or songs you’d like to see an arrangement for, you’re always welcome to contact us to suggest it. As always, if you have any questions, please let us know!

two handbell ringers with Schulmerich Silver Melody Bells

Christmas handbell duets in a rather different holiday season!

At the end of the 2024-25 holiday season, it’s time to look back at our December handbell performances!

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is usually our busiest time of year, as far as handbell performances go. However, this year we didn’t have as many duet bookings as usual. That turned out not to be such a bad thing; we found out at the start of the holiday season that a family member in England was in hospital, and we really needed to go over there as soon as possible. Panic set in for while, because making an emergency trip overseas in December is not an easy thing to do. We’ve never cancelled a holiday handbell performance yet, and didn’t wat to start!

We looked at our calendar, and decided that we should continue as planned with our Christmas bookings, then fly to England as soon as they were all finished. We booked flights for December 21st, and a room in a hotel not far from the hospital. Then we took a few deep breaths, and continued with our December as planned.

Two chilly performances at the Kerstmarkt-Holland

Our 2024 holiday season started in the way that’s become a tradition for us in recent years. We always love to begin our Christmas ringing at the Kerstmarkt! This is a European-style Christmas market in downtown Holland. We even met Santa there this year! It was cold on both evenings we played, and we also had snow on one evening. We always wrap up warmly, though, so we’re well prepared. We go to this event feeling extremely wide, with several layers of extra clothing on! Thanks to the Kerstmarkt organizers, particularly Osman Flowers and Firs, and Shady Side Farm, for inviting us to take part in this festive annual event.

Kerstmarkt Holland Santa visit

Another outdoor performance, at Otsego Hometown Christmas

We were excited to be asked to perform at Otsego Hometown Christmas again this year. This is another chilly outdoor event (we get a lot of practice with those!), but we enjoyed sharing our music there again. There’s always a lot happening at this community event. There are trailer rides, a live Nativity, and a parade, and it’s a fun way to celebrate the holiday season. Thanks to Otsego District Library for sponsoring our performance again this year.

handbell ringers at Otsego Hometown Christmas

Back to the Gary Byker Memorial Library of Hudsonville!

We were pleased to be invited back for this annual celebration with the Friends of the Library. If we’re remembering correctly, this was our sixth year at this event! We always enjoy the opportunity to play carols and talk about our bells with an attentive and enthusiastic audience. This year, we included a couple of accompanied duets in our program. We have lots of 6- and 8-bell accompanied pieces, and we really wanted to play some of them. We decided to try using an mp3 backing track instead of an actual pianist, and it worked well.

As you can see from the photo, it was a bit of a stormy day! We were scheduled to present a handbell duet program at Paw Paw District Library that evening too. Sadly (but wisely), that event had to be postponed. The snowflakes make for a fun photo, but driving conditions were definitely less than ideal! We’ll now be performing at the library on the evening of Thursday, January 23rd instead. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for no winter storm that day!

Finally, some indoor performances!

We were happy to be able to add our handbell music to another Christmas concert by the Zeeland Community Band. This festive community event has been a highlight of our holiday season for several years now. Here’s a rare photo of us in action!

We enjoyed a couple of performances for private events, including a luncheon for seniors in Wright Township. As December went by, we decided that we had enough time to fit in a couple of fundraising sessions at the Salvation Army Red Kettle too. We hadn’t done that in a few years! We were encouraged by how pleased people were to hear something different at our local D&W Fresh Market. It also helped that we were able to choose a location indoors. After the first few performances in December, we felt that we’d already done our fair share of outdoor ringing!

Christmas handbell performers

A quick trip to England

Our pre-Christmas performances in Michigan were all finished on December 20th. On the 21st, we flew to England, to meet with family in Berkshire. We took some of our handbells with us, packed in a carry-on case. We’ve travelled overseas with handbells before, but never risk putting them in our checked luggage. We spent Christmas Day at the hospital, and played carols for patients as they had their Christmas lunch. It was heartwarming to see how the hospital staff worked hard to make Christmas Day festive for patients there. In our “down time”, we enjoyed acting like tourists in the town of Reading, and admiring the old buildings there. We shared some of the photos from our trip on our Facebook page. Our week in England was over far too quickly, and it really didn’t feel like a vacation at all. There were friends and family that we didn’t have the opportunity to see, but we hope it won’t be too long before we can start planning another trip there.

Back to Michigan, for the last days of Christmas

We arrived back in Michigan, tired and a little overwhelmed from our trip. We’d been looking forward to playing at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ on Epiphany Sunday, though. We actually couldn’t remember the last time we’d played handbell duets in an Epiphany Sunday service! We were thankful for one more opportunity to play carols such as Silent Night, The First Nowell, What Child is This and We Three Kings. It was our first visit to this friendly church, but hopefully not our last!

Thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who supported and encouraged us through our 2024-25 holiday season! If you booked us for a performance, came to one of our handbell concerts, bought music from Choraegus, communicated with us on our Facebook page, or did anything at all to lift our spirits during quite a stressful month – thank you. We’re looking forward to sharing more handbell music with you in the coming year!

Otsego Hometown Christmas 2024 – Handbells

December 7 at 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm EST

Otsego Hometown Christmas 2024 will take place on December 7th. Holland-based handbell duo Larry and Carla will once again be there to play Christmas carols to celebrate the season!

Otsego Hometown Christmas

This annual community event will be fun for all the family! There will be carolers, a live Nativity, a parade, and an opportunity for children to make Christmas ornaments. You can take a hayride along the riverfront, enjoy hot cocoa and cider, and lots more. Santa will be there too! The evening will feature a tree-lighting, and there will be lots of entertainment throughout the day.

Larry and Carla’s handbell performance is sponsored by Otsego District Library.

Would you like to book a handbell group for your event?

Larry and Carla are available to play handbell duets for weddings, worship services, concerts, holiday events, and corporate and private events. If you’re looking to hire a handbell choir for your event in Michigan or beyond, please get in touch! A handbell duo takes up less room than a standard handbell choir, making Larry and Carla particularly suitable for smaller venues. Tell us what kind of event you’re planning, and what type of music you’re looking for.

Come and see us at Otsego Hometown Christmas 2024, and listen to the sound of Christmas bells at this special time of year!

Free Free Admission

Together Otsego Prospers – TOP

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Kerstmarkt – Holland

150 W 8th St
Holland, MI 49423 United States + Google Map