The football stadium, soccer field, Viking Varieties and the homecoming parade have all made their way back to campus in recent years. Now the Christmas program performed by the Augustana choirs and associated music groups will join them.

On Dec. 5, all of the Augustana choirs and the orchestra will debut their traditional Christmas program this year, titled A Christmas Celebrationthis year, at Our Savior's Lutheran Church, located at 33rd Street and Prairie Avenue. Even though the church is not technically on campus, the location is the closest appropriate venue for the annual performance.

This year, the Augustana orchestra will join the program because the new location is significantly larger than any of the previous locations. In the late 1990's the chamber orchestra performed at the Christmas program, but due to space limitations, the group was forced to stop.

The location and addition of the orchestra are not the only changes being made to the Christmas program. Last year, the public had four opportunities to see the annual performance, but this year, there will be only the single Dec. 5 performance.

James Johnson, Augustana choir conductor, believes that the change in location will change the Christmas program.

"It [Our Savior's Lutheran Church] will open up a lot of opportunities," Johnson said. "It's going to be a lot of fun."

"The orchestra has never gotten to participate in the Christmas program before,

 junior Rebecka Bogue, who plays violin in the orchestra said. "We play Christmas songs in the Chapel a lot, but never got to perform in the Christmas program, so we are excited for the change."

Martha Stai, a senior in the Augustana Choir, has performed in Vespers/Christmas program for four years, and is less excited about the changes than Bogue.

"There was something special about going to a big traditional church," she said. However, she also said that since Our Savior's is bigger and more modern than First Lutheran, the program would probably be less chaotic.

Stai's favorite part about the Christmas program will remain unaffected by the change of location and schedule: Bible verses will still be recited and Christmas songs will still be sung.

"The Christmas celebration reminds you of the season and helps get you in the Christmas spirit," Stai said.

In addition to A Christmas Celebration, the Augustana Choir will still be performing the annual Vespers program in the chapel on campus; it will just be altered a bit from past performances. The program, titled The Song of Luke,will tell the story of the birth of Christ as told in the book of Luke and will be held Friday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., leading up to a A Christmas Celebration.

One of the biggest changes this year is that Brother Cyprian Consiglio wrote all of the music for the program. Consiglio, a monk who worked with the choir and percussion professor John Pennington briefly last year, enjoyed his experience so much that he wanted to come back to perform at Augustana this year, said Johnson.

Johnson said the Christmas program has undergone numerous changes within his 19 years at Augustana and moving the performance to Our Savior's brings more excitement to the program.

"We are excited," Bogue said. "We get to play with the choir, we are phenomenal, and it should be a good time."