Holiday happenings are part of what make the holiday season go ‘round. Whether you're heading out for a very rainy Christmas light adventure or a sing-a-long, chances are there's at least one holiday event in your future. And yet not all shows are created equal. Sure, you could go with Christmas carolers or a choir, but the season gets even better if you look to a show that steps a little outside of the box.

At the Traditions Café in Olympia, an extra special holiday concert has expanded to not one, but two nights this year - a concert by Grammy Award-winning musical duo extraordinaire, Tingstad & Rumbel.

Tingstad & Rumbel is Eric Tingstad and Nancy Rumbel. The duo has performed together for almost 25 years, recorded a whopping 19 albums, and won a Grammy in 2003 for their album, Acoustic Garden. They play a wide variety of relaxing melodic instrumental music with Rumbel on wind instruments and Tingstad on guitar. Both bring unique musical backgrounds to the table. Tingstad's impressive guitar background ranges from electric rock guitar to training in Segovian classic guitar, while Rumbel's broad background in wind instruments has led her to draw in often unusual instruments, including the oboe, English horn and ocarina.

"We have performed at Traditions for many years and always look forward to it," said Rumbel. "At the holiday time, our concerts include some holiday music, original compositions, and familiar well-loved melodies. At this point, I feel like it is an annual holiday event. It often sells out and folks come early to enjoy an incredible meal at Traditions prior to the show."

Traditions Café & World Folk Art is a café that serves food, bakery items and beverages, but also a place to find folk art from around the world. All items in the shop are brought in through fair and equitable trade relationships with artists and farmers. Just as Traditions teams up with artists, it brings that same sense of community and goodwill to its own community with concerts, forums and workshops.

"We will be doing an assortment of holiday melodies treated in a variety of styles from country to classical," added Tingstad. "I will also be performing a couple tracks from my 2015 release called Mississippi. The new album is a return to my roots as a finger-style blues picker with pieces inspired by my trips to Mississippi and Tennessee and the music from this region that is the foundation for most of what we know as popular music."

Tingstad & Rumbel go on stage at Traditions Café Dec. 18 and 19 from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Traditions Cafe is located at 300 5th Avenue SW in Olympia. Tickets for the show are $22 for regular and $15 students and low income.

For more info and a listing of other upcoming shows, go to www.traditionsfairtrade.com/pages/tradhome.html.