Matthew Burnette, Staff Writer

The Becky Buller Band is making a return trip to the Noah Community Center on Dec. 14 for an afternoon full of Christmas music and cheer with a bluegrass flair.

Live at the Old Schoolhouse: Christmas with the Becky Buller Band will mark the group’s second performance at the old school this year after September’s album release show featuring the band’s new record “Songs That Sing Me,” and will be the last date on the calendar for the year.

Becky Buller, the band’s lead singer, fiddle player and namesake, explained that the room has a bit of family nostalgia for her as it’s where her father-in-law Sterling Haley went to elementary school in the 1940s.

“It’s a lovely room,” she noted. “It’s local and it’s got that family connection. It’s just quaint and homey and fun and welcoming to the kind of music that I play which is bluegrass and Americana roots music.”

Buller said that in September the venue, which holds about 160 people, was almost completely full.

Though originally from Minnesota, Buller moved to Coffee County nearly two decades ago and says that it was great getting to perform for her adopted hometown crowd.

She also explained that she’s been blessed by the “incredible” family she’s made since moving here.

“God couldn’t have given me a better Tennessee family, and now part of my Minnesota family has moved down here,” she said. “My parents are here now, and it’s just a welcoming place, and I love that it’s fairly quiet here. We’ve got a great church home and a great neighborhood with wonderful people who have just been adopted aunts and uncles and grandparents and friends to Romy, our daughter, so it’s a wonderful place to come home to put down roots.”

While Buller says that she’s not one of those people that listens to Christmas music all year long, she loves it during the Christmas season in addition to caroling around her neighborhood.

The Christmas show will be a mix of songs that everyone is familiar with, and welcome to sing along to, and songs that Buller has either written or co-written, as well as songs from the band’s Christmas album “The Perfect Gift,” ranging from “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” to “Last Christmas” by Wham!.

“I just wanted to do a Christmas record for years and years and finally convinced my record label to let me do it, and we decided to make it half and half, half familiar things and half that I’ve written, and it’s also half secular and half sacred,” said Buller.

“The biggest thing is, as a Christ follower, I love celebrating Jesus and sharing that message of hope and light.”

Buller also noted that the show is a good way to hear the Wham! holiday classic without counting against your attempt at a Whamageddon, a trend where listeners try to go the whole holiday season without hearing the 80s pop group’s popular, yet arguably overplayed, Christmas tune.

An obvious lover of Christmas, Buller reflected on one of her favorite memories of celebrating the holiday in Amsterdam where she got to visit with a cousin and share stories and memories which she says was “a magical time.”

She also got to share a meal with several of her cousin’s friends from other countries where the only rule was that the dishes had to be washed between each course, leading everyone at the gathering to take turns completing the chore.

“There were so many languages swirling around the room that day, primarily English, Dutch, Arabic and German,” Buller reminisced. “It was just fantastic to be outside of the country and experiencing Christmas in a different way. All of the meats were cooked in a Palestinian and Armenian style which just has a different flavor palette than what we normally have for a Christmas feast over here. It was absolutely delicious.”

Before the band’s performance at the Noah Community Center, the doors will open at 12:30 p.m. for a meal of soup, all of the fixins, dessert and a drink. The meal costs $10 and all of the proceeds go to the Noah Community Center building fund and will go towards expenses like a new floor that was installed this year.

The music will start at 2 p.m. with The Mountain Ridge 5, a band that Buller’s husband plays guitar with, opening. Then after a small break, the Becky Buller Band will come out to perform. The event will last until about 4 or 5 p.m.

There will also be an opportunity for free pictures with Banjo Santa, and some other Christmas guests are expected to make an appearance.

Tickets are on sale now for $20 in advance at beckybuller.com or $25 at the door on the day of the show. Tiffany Seaborn will be the emcee.