The Merry Makers "a cappella" singers

The Merry Makers have been singing their hearts out for years, and now they are bringing their cheerful, rousing sound to our party to give us a short holiday treat! Besides favorites like Joy To The World and Carol of the Bells, they enjoy harmonizing to other warm holiday songs such as Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming, Silent Night, and many more. But they do have a few tricks up their sleeves. You might roll over laughing when the octet sings Wreck The Malls or The Twelve Pains of Christmas.

Cross-cultural misunderstandings: Oui? No!

Bay Area psychologist Dr. Anne de Lovinfosse will give us an insightful and entertaining talk about the unfortunate ways that French and American people - and people from different cultures in general - can misinterpret each other, even when ostensibly speaking the same language. Such misunderstandings can arise even where we least expect them - in our closest relationships. Anne will talk about the differences in our cultural premises that can impact even everyday communication unless we are conscious of them. After the 15 minute talk there will be time for Q&A.

Dr. de Lovinfosse, Ph.D. is a bilingual (English-French) licensed Clinical Psychologist and also licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. www.delovinfosse-anne.com