Video: The Third Annual TAC “Christmas Flash Mob”

Bringing the joy of Advent and the promise of Christmas into the marketplace, some 150 Thomas Aquinas College students recently descended upon The Oaks shopping mall in Thousand Oaks to stage a choral “flash mob.”

After furtively gathering around the mall’s central Christmas display — by the Santa Claus photo center — the students simultaneously burst into song. They began with “Joy to the World” and “The First Noel,” and then concluded with a rousing rendition of “O Holy Night.” The mall’s surprised customers and employees seemed to delight in the performance.

Organized by junior Giorgio Navarini, the yuletide event is fast becoming a regular College tradition. The inaugural flash mob in 2013 was so widely and well received — generating nearly 50,000 views and coverage from EWTN’s World Over — that students have been enthusiastic about doing it again every year since, preparing in their spare time for weeks in advance.

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new glorious morn
Fall on your knees
O hear the angels’ voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born
O night divine, o night
O night divine!