The Christmas season is here! And as your Christmas music station, we are thrilled to ring in the first two weeks of December, with a special focus on local music. We call it "Christmas Cafe", and it's our opportunity to take a break every morning at 8:35 am, pour an extra cup of coffee or hot chocolate, and sit back and enjoy the seasonal sounds of Manitoba artists. It's our hope that you will be filled with the hope, joy, and peace of Christmas as we delight in the musical talents of Manitoba artists.

Today was "Opening Day" for our Christmas Cafe. Now, in OUR cafe, YOU get to pick your favorite morning drink AND you get to make it just the way you like it -- AND THEN, you get to hear one of our local artists perform a song they've picked just for Christmas Cafe. Usually we literally have our guests right here in the studio with us, we turn the video camera on, we chat and then, they sing for us "live" -- not in 2020 of course, so, we asked them to record a video on their own and send it to us. Danny Plett was our first guest this year, he works with Teach Beyond -- formerly known as Janz Team - and his work IS international travel to Europe and Brazil, to give concerts and to help in encouraging the local churches in those countries in music worship... of course, that is "on hold" right now and they are hoping and praying that at the very least a Livestream concert of some kind will be possible in the near future.

Well, we were very pleased to have given Danny an opportunity to perform, sort of "live" here on Christmas Cafe -- and his version of "Sleigh Ride" left us all with huge smiles on our faces and joy in our hearts... thank you so much Danny and MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Our next group got their start after being inspired by their high school choir teacher. Once they got the feel of performing, they were inclined to continue. From A cappella singing to using their instrumental skills, Quadenza is a very talented group, that we look forward to hearing more from in the future! Enjoy "Carol of the Bells" by Quadenza which they quickly recorded while lesser restrictions were in place.

Lucien Spence shared his gift of song with us on Christmas Cafe, from his kitchen table, in Portage La Prairie! We hear Lucien on Pure Country Gospel in the evenings from time to time, and thought it would be nice to reconnect and see how his season is unfolding. 

Lucien, thank you so much for taking the time. And may you have a "Real Country Christmas"!

And it was time Thursday morning, once again, to put the coffee on, and put the bread into the toaster. Our Christmas Cafe is open, and we have another special guest joining us today. Altona’s Tim Friesen is on the phone, and the singer/songwriter is a familiar voice to many of you, because he used to be part of our radio family. He performed a stunning version of O Come O Come Emmanuel, which featured a unique style we know you've ever heard before. Check out the video, and enjoy!

Today, we got that real family feel, with a singing group that has been presenting their ministry to many areas of the World for years already, D'Friesen Family! Now, with much of their life "on the road", it's certainly been a different year for D'Friesens, but Diedrich and Nettie joined us to share their perspective through song, with an original song called "Shadow of the Cross". Thank you so much for sharing this unique take on the Christmas story.

Welcome to week two of Christmas Cafe! We always jump at the chance to highlight local musicians -- and that's what this Cafe is all about. We've asked local musicians to prepare a song at home to share with us via video, and then, we called them to talk about it! L Rae & J shared their rendition of "Blue Christmas" with us today. Thank you for sharing your musical talents!

Today's musical guests in our "Christmas Cafe" were Isi and Silina Masi from Steinbach. A talented father-daughter duo who kindly shared a Christmas Medley with us. It was fun to chat with Isi this morning as well, and what a great message of hope he shared with us, how GIVING at Christmas, whether it's to your local food bank, your neighbour, or just a note of encouragement to someone you know who has been working extra hard in this time, can go such a long way. Well, Isi - your words and your beautiful music has encouraged us! Thank you for joining us and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Good morning -- it's Wednesday, December 9th-- and something we're really missing these days is "going for coffee" -- you know, meeting a friend at your favorite cafe, sitting together, catching up, laughing... maybe even crying together -- just sharing time... together. Now, we know that our Christmas Cafe is still not allowing you to actually SIT at the same table as us... but we hope you will feel the warmth of togetherness... We certainly LOVE how it gives us the opportunity to bring some of our local musicians to you! Now, some of our guests this year are those we don't get to hear on a regular basis but today's guest? We do -- and we are thrilled he stopped by an "extra" time just for us -- Jordan St. Cyr! Thank you so much Jordan and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Stew Clayton, "the yodeling cowboy" from Manitou, has been a household name across Canada for decades -- and it turns out, musicality is a Clayton family trait! Today, we heard from Juanita, and her sister, Loriann, going under the name "Common Threads". Loriann lives in Kansas, but was in Manitoba this Fall to spend time with Father Stew, and sister Juanita. And that's when they recorded this special Christmas song, just for us. It's called "Christmas Memories".

After two weeks of enjoying sounds of the season from artists across the province, we've come to the final performance in our Christmas Cafe as our annual traditional wraps up today. Our final guests are Henry and Larry Abrams... The Brothers Keep... who found a way to come together in separate spaces to create this morning’s song... Scotty McCreery’s “Christmas Comin’ Round Again”