Holiday Music is All Around: Your Week

One of the best ways to celebrate Christmas and the holiday season is with song. In Bethlehem, music is rarely far away, especially at this time of year.

East Hills Middle School, Broughal Middle School, Northeast Middle School and Spring Garden Elementary School will al be hosting holiday concerts starring their own talented students at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The Gospel Choir of the Lehigh Valley Charter School for the Performing Arts will perform a Christmas Concert at Godfrey Daniels at 7 p.m. Thursday. Admission is $10.50 and $5.50 for students.

Music is also often a feature of the Bethlehem Live Advent Calendar, which unveils a live Christmas treat from the front door of the 1810 Goundie House at 505 Main St. at 5:30 p.m. sharp every day through Dec. 23. In years past, those treats have included special performances, holiday sweets and other gifts.

Here’s what else is going on in Bethlehem this week:

• The Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites will continue to offer its seasonal holiday tours, which include the Christmas City Stroll, Scenic Horsedrawn Carriage Rides, the Bethlehem by Night Bus Tour and the holiday version of the Rise & Fall of Bethlehem Steel. For more information on tour times or to purchase tickets, contact the Historic Bethlehem Visitor Center at 505 Main St., call 1-800-360-TOUR or view this website: www.historicbethlehem.org.

• The Bethlehem Area School Board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday at the East Hills Middle School auditorium, first to have a hearing to discuss a newly proposed charter school—an Advanced Military Aerospace Science Academy. At the close of the hearing, the board will move on to its regular monthly business, which includes making an appointment to fill an empty school board seat.

• Join Historic Bethlehem Museums & Sites on a bus trip to visit Nemours Mansion in Wilmington, Del. See the diverse collection of rare pieces of furniture and masterpieces of art.  Then enjoy high tea at the Hotel Dupont (sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, dainties, and tea). The tour departs from the Luckenbach Mill at 9:30 a.m. and will return to Bethlehem by 7:30 p.m.  Price per person is $95 for members of Historic Bethlehem and $105 for non-members; cost includes bus transportation, driver gratuity, guided tour of Nemours, and high tea with tax & gratuity at Hotel Dupont.

• City Council will hold its final budget hearing before scheduled adoption at 7 p.m. Thursday in Town Hall. The proposed 2014 budget offered by Mayor John Callahan calls for no tax increase, but a 15-percent hike in water and sewer rates.

• Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, co-hosts of the Emmy-nominated Discovery Channel series MythBusters, bring a live-stage version their hit TV show to the stage at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center at 8 p.m. Thursday. The show will allow audience members to join Jamie and Adam on stage and assist in their mind-twisting and not always orthodox approach to science. Tickets are from $39.50 to $65.50.