Christ Church Cathedral’s family concert was warm, welcoming and musically perfect.

This is genuinely a family concert, rather than being for children. The children were made extremely welcome, of course, but the format remained what I’d expect for a carol concert - around 10 choir carols, four audience carols, two readings and an organ solo (which my child, bizarrely, loved). For two of the carols, the children were invited to stand with the choristers, but as to the rest, it was fairly formal. The concert ran a little longer than some of the smaller children could do while sitting still and quietly. This felt fine, however, as we’d been explicitly told that the children weren’t expected to sit still. Many people attended without children, and I certainly would have enjoyed it just as much without my child present. While my favourite moment was watching her look of wonder as she watched the choir sing 'Away In A Manger' from three feet away, my second favourite moment was easily feeling my voice blending with this iconic and beautiful choir as the descant kicked in in 'Hark The Herald Angels Sing'.

The setting of Christ Church Cathedral is absolutely stunning, and the quality of the choristers is of course sky high. It felt very special to bring my young child to such an iconic experience, and an older child might well appreciate the specialness of it more than my four year old (who took it all in her stride). For true choral music fans, the higher priced tickets yield incredible views, and from what I gathered, a chance to actually sit in the choir stalls (the choir were standing in the middle to perform). Cheaper seats had video links, but the sound was fantastic, and I could see anyway if I craned my head a little. For very young children I would actively recommend the lower visibility seats, because they were much less crowded and there was less pressure on your child to sit still.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what to tell my four year old about Christmas. How much do I emphasise charity, how much do I emphasise togetherness? What about ritual, and fun? How do I balance these elements? We are not a religious family, but I want her to attend church at this time of year, because I want her to see what it means, what other people believe, and more, I want her to stand in the same kinds of spaces I stood in as a child, and sing the same songs. To show her the connection, and the lineage. This is, above all else, what this concert provided. A beautiful engagement with Christmas ritual, presented in a way that made us all feel welcome.