A review of The Joy Of Christmas show, on December 20, 2002, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, written by Speedy, and used with permission. 

Intro: The show starts with animated characters running across the screen. One of them climbs up a rope. If I remember correctly, the curtain rises, revealing a computer-projected conductor and orchestra. The orchestra plays a medley of Christmas songs, which include Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, Silver Bells, & Joy To The World. After Joy To The World, the conductor turns around, takes a bow, and the audience applauds. The orchestra plays a little more music, which leads into the first song.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow: Martina starts singing the first verse, and is warmly greeted by an enthusiastic, and appreciative Milwaukee audience. As I looked above, I saw what appeared to be fake snow being blown downwards onto the people sitting in the floor sections.

Silver Bells: While Martina sings this song, the 3 screens show a Christmas-y sidewalk view of a city ("City Sidewalks, City Sidewalks"). Very cool!

Martina Introduces The Joy Of Christmas: Martina says "Well thank you so much! Thank you, Merry Christmas, Milwaukee!" She asks how many people in the audience have never been to a Martina McBride concert before. From the audience response, I'd say less than half responded affirmatively. Martina then said that through this show, she wanted to bring Christmas to life. She said they took every aspect of Christmas; the Spirit of Christmas, the Memories of Christmas, the true meaning of Christmas, and tried to find neat ways to bring it to life on the stage. Then she said "sit back, and let us bring you The Joy Of Christmas!".

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas: The song starts out with some slow, mellow music. I didn't recognize it as Christmas music, but I'm sure it must've been. I can't remember exactly what was happening on the stage during this song, but I think I read some reviews that said a Christmas morning in a Victorian home was the scene used for this song.

A Costume Change, Some Dialogue From Martina, & A Home Video: After the last song, Martina goes back for a costume change, and comes out quickly, saying "there are clothes FLYING back there; it is CRAZY!". Then she joked about how she had agreed to do 7 costume changes, and now has "a whole new respect for Reba McEntire". Martina then told the audience about her two little girls, and then a home video of a Christmas morning at the McBride's home was shown on the screen. I thought this part was really cute, and funny in many parts. The audience thought so, too. The part I remember is where Delaney read a letter that Santa had left, that said something like "Merry Christmas. Love, Santa. ps: Thanks for the Dr. Pepper". (LOL, now I know why Santa hasn't left me as many presents in recent years....I kept leaving Mountain Dew out on the table for him, but I see now that he actually would rather have Dr. Pepper! Next year, I'll leave a few 12-packs for him, and maybe I'll finally get that '69 SS Camaro that I've been asking him for!) Martina then joked about how she would've combed her hair a little better if she'd known she was gonna be showing that video to a few thousand people.

Emma, A Gift For Martina, And Martina Gets "That Jerry Springer/ Oprah Thing Going": Martina's younger daughter Emma (4 1/2 years old, I think?) walks across the stage and hands Martina a present.
Martina: "Do you know what's in here?"
Emma: "Yes"
Martina: "Are you gonna tell me?"
Emma: "No" (followed by laughter from the audience)
Martina then asked Emma what she wanted from Santa Clause, to which Emma replied "Everything". Martina then opened the present, and it's a video camera! Emma says "Merry Christmas" to everyone, and walks off the stage to a big round of applause.

Then Martina walks down to the floor section and says something like "we're gonna come down here and see if we can get this Jerry Springer/Oprah thing going. Hopefully a little more Oprah than Jerry Springer". (the audience laughs) I'm not sure, but I think someone in M's crew takes the camera and follows her down into the audience.

Martina stops by a little 3-yr old girl and talks to her for a little bit. She tells Martina she wants Scooby-Doo for Christmas.

Martina then walks into the middle of one of the rows, and a lady says how special her older sister is to her, and says it's her sister's birthday today. As you might have guessed, Martina sings "Happy Birthday" to the older sister.

Martina starts walking around again, and sees someone who reminds her of one of her fellow country artists, and says "I thought you were Kix Brooks there when I walked by". When they showed the guy on the screen, he really DID look like Kix Brooks from Brooks & Dunn!

Martina spotted someone who was trying to hide his face from Martina and the cameraman, so Martina decided to have some fun with him. Martina said something like "Look at this guy...he's saying 'Oh Dear God. PLEASE, just don't stop here'". (the audience laughs) Martina asks him "Did I get it right?". The guy, obviously nervous, responds "Right". (the audience laughs some more) Martina then asked him if he was a "Turkey Man", or a "Ham Man", to which he responded "Both". Then Martina asked him something that nearly brought down the arena with laughter......"When it comes to turkey, are you a "breast man", or a "leg man"? I don't think the poor guy knew how to respond to THAT one!

Martina Reads To The Kids On Stage, Some Singing, And A Visit From Santa: Martina asks for some young volunteers to come up on stage with her. Most of them were young kids, but I think I saw some teenagers, and maybe even a few adults who went up with their kids. After everyone is settled on the floor, Martina reads "The Night Before Christmas". While she reads the story, digitally-projected images "act out" the story on the 3 screens.

After reading the story, Martina sings "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" with a little help from all youngsters on stage. This is followed by "Jingle Bells".

After that, Martina shows everybody the North Pole, which is shown on the screen. If I remember correctly, we were seeing scenes from Santa's workshop, with elves making toys.

Martina then says she got a phone call from Mrs. Claus saying that she's not sure if Santa would be able to make it to Milwaukee due to a terrible snowstorm at the North Pole. But, guess who appears from one of the arena tunnels.......that's right, it's Santa Claus!!! Martina then sings "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", and Santa walks around giving people goodies from his bag. If I'm not mistaken, the lucky fans were getting autographed Martina CDs from Santa!

Santa finally makes his way up on to the stage, and he hands out some goodies to the kids. I couldn't tell what he was giving them, but he hit one of the kids in the head with one of them! (I think they were hats?)

Santa asked Martina if she knew what she wanted for Christmas, to which Martina replied "Of COURSE I do; I want the Packers to win the SUPER BOWL!!!". As you might have guessed, the roar of approval and applause from an arena full of Packer Backers (aka "cheeseheads") was deafening! Martina definitely endeared herself to many in the audience with that Christmas wish!

Santa says he had a lot to do, so he had to go. As he was leaving, he reminded all the little boys and girls to remember to leave lots of milk and cookies out for him. (The kids who got the most presents were probably the ones who remembered to leave some Dr. Pepper on the table for him too)

The Christmas Song: This was the last song before intermission. After she finishes singing, Martina says that the best way to make sure all the kids on stage get back safely to their parents is to break for a 20-minute intermission.

Intermission: This actually was a 20-minute intermission, and had it been 19 minutes, we wouldn't have gotten back too late for the start of the 2nd half of the show. Why? Because the line for the ladies restroom was so long, my wife and daughter stood line for over 15 minutes before they were able to get into the bathroom!

I'll Be Home For Christmas: We spent the first 45 seconds of this song trying to find our seats because the lights were already turned down. For this song, they showed a World War II plane flying away on the screen, as a young lady waved goodbye.

White Christmas: Honestly, I can't remember what was being shown on the screens during this song. Does anyone remember?

"Hey, Milwaukee....Let's Go Caroling!!!" The orchestra played some real slow, mellow music, and I thought this would be followed by some more slow Christmas songs by Martina. WRONG! Martina re-appears on stage and enthusiastically says "Hey, Milwaukee...let's go caroling!".

Martina sings the first verse of "Deck The Halls". After the first line of the 2nd verse, she stops singing, and tells everybody else to stop. She then said that during the making of her White Christmas CD, she realized that we all know the first verse to every Christmas song...."but after that...forget about it". With some help from the lyrics being displayed on the big screen, the audience helped Martina finish the 2nd verse. This is followed by "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and "Joy To The World". I believe the lyrics might have been shown on the screen, but I can't remember.

Scenes From Old Classic Christmas Movies, Cartoons, And Animated Movies: I can't remember all the scenes that were shown, but I remember scenes from Frosty The Snowman, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, & Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. Anyone remember the other movies that were shown?

O Come All Ye Faithful: This was my 2nd favorite song of the night. The screens changed to show the stained-glass windows of a large church, and a bunch of banners (with the same stained-glass window design) descended from the the arena rafters. It looked absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I was getting some serious chills as Martina sang this song.

Silent Night: Again, I can't remember what was being shown on the screens for this song. Anybody remember?

Martina Reads A Passage From Luke, Chapter 2: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

What Child Is This: This was my wife's favorite part of the show. And again, I am failing miserably at remembering all the details! All I can remember is that the actors and actresses have acted out this song in such a way that it turns out to be a nativity scene by the end of the song. The big screen in the middle shows angels flying, getting closer and closer as the song nears its end. This was absolutely beautiful, and words are not enough to describe the beauty of what we saw and heard during this song.

O Holy Night: Martina descends the stairs to the middle of the stage, and sings her now-famous a capella version of O Holy Night. I was hoping and praying she'd sing this song!!! Looks like I got an early Christmas wish! At the end where she sings "O night, diVIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE" and holds that note for several seconds, the audience started applauding even before Martina finished! When she finished, Martina received a well-deserved standing ovation, and I commented to my wife how that song gave me "goosebumps the size of Hershey's Kisses".

The End: The sellout crowd enthusiastically acknowledges the entire cast of The Joy Of Christmas with heartfelt applause as they bow politely to the audience. As you might expect, the loudest applause is given to Delaney and Emma, and then to Martina. This was an INCREDIBLE night; one that I'll never forget. And for most of us who were fortunate to see this show, Martina gave us a beautiful Christmas memory that will be treasured forever.

"I just want them to take away all the aspects of Christmas and to get pumped up for the Christmas season, and to get done what they need to get done and reflect and take time to really enjoy it. I guess I just really want to put people in the Christmas spirit." Martina McBride

"I'm already in the spirit of the holidays. That's one thing this tour does. You just can't help but get in the Christmas spirit when you're doing this show." Martina McBride in the article "Martina's merry Christmas: Country singer brings 'Joy' to Fargodome" written by John Lamb and published in the "The Forum" on November 23, 2004

“I was inspired by the Christmas productions put on at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. We go every year and just love it.” Martina McBride

"If you leave the show and you're not in the Christmas spirit, there's no hope for you” Martina McBride