Christmastime

We moved over to Lake Magic the day before Thanksgiving, and the next day enjoyed a 22 lb. turkey.  Yes, I cooked it in our little oven just for the two of us, and it provided us with plenty of leftovers to use later in other recipes.  Now it was time to put up our annual Christmas display in the front window.  Nothing elaborate, just simple things that have special meaning to us…plus lights of course!


LuJo & me

As you may recall, earlier this year I visited the Sisters of Sound Chorus (http://www.sistersofsound.org), members of Harmony, Inc. (http://www.harmonyinc.org/), another women’s barbershop organization.  I’ve stayed in touch with one of the ladies, and once I knew where we’d be spending the winter, I emailed LuJo to see if they
were doing any Christmas performances nearby that I could catch.  She not only told me about a couple but invited me to come sing with them!  I needed to attend a rehearsal and knew I couldn’t make one of the singouts, but you don’t have to ask me twice to “go Christmas caroling”!  I attended the Dec. 17th rehearsal, and though the director was out of town, one of the asst. directors, Tatiana, was in charge.  I didn’t get to meet her on my last visit, but she is a dynamo and very

           knowledgeable as she's also a music teacher.  After vocal warmups, we quickly ran through the Christmas songs and then on to their regular repertoire, several of which I knew (but still glad I had sheet music to follow).  With it being so close to Christmas, a few
     ladies were out of town, and as you can see in the photos above, the chorus has started accepting some very young ladies as members.  The performance was on Dec. 21 in historic downtown Clermont…just singing Christmas carols and
     bringing joy to all nearby.  Tatiana could not be there, but we were in the very capable hands of the other asst. director, Ludimilla, who was there to lead us in song.  Fortunately someone was able to snag a couple of pictures including one of us with Santa!

 

When we’re in town, our Christmas Eve tradition for the last couple of years has been to attend the Candlelight Processional regardless of how many times we may have already seen it.  What better night to listen to the story of the Nativity and revel in the beauty and majesty of the performance.  We were pleasantly surprised that even
though it was Christmas Eve, the line wasn’t too long for the last show, probably because most locals were home and the slight chill in the air may have kept some others away.  The guest narrator was Christian singer/songwriter, Steven Curtis Chapman, and as you can imagine, he sang along with most of the songs.

 

We had found a new spot for watching Illuminations, and afterwards decided to head for the Magic Kingdom to see if we could catch some of their fireworks, too, since for Christmas week they were doing a second set because the park was staying open later.  We got to the parking lot entrance
   just in time to see the last few bursts, and I managed to snap a couple photos as we drove through the kiosks but that was all.  Oh, well, it was a good thought anyway.

 

  Christmas Day arrived with no real big fanfare, but Abby did find that Santa left a little something in her stocking!  She was so excited trying to get it out that I couldn’t get a decent picture.  Too funny!  We joined friends, Judy and Bob, at the resort’s Christmas potluck along with their friends, Cheryl and Rich, who were visiting.  There was lots of good food with the resort providing turkey, ham, mashed
potatoes, stuffing, and gravy and everyone else bringing a side dish or dessert to share.  As you can imagine, we were all stuffed!  And by the way, you may notice something different about Russ.  He decided to shave off his beard Christmas morning!  So what do you think?  Of course, he says he’ll probably let it grow back.

Susan, Judy, Cheryl

Bob, Rich, Russ

It’s hard to believe that another year is nearly over, but we have so much for which to be thankful and we look forward to another year of adventure.  Hope you’ll continue to join us along our journey, and we wish everyone a very Happy New Year!