to spread the glad tidings that brought such great joy to the world 2011 years ago. It is a season of celebrating the coming of the greatest gift our Father in Heaven gave to us, a Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
From Dec. 1 to Dec. 25 we were originally scheduled to perform 25 programs but because of last minute opportunities and requests we ended up performing 30 times this month. It has been such a blessing to proclaim Christ's birth and share the true meaning of Christmas, with so many people.
This is one reason why the blog has been so quite lately. So I am going to go back a little bit to the beginning of this month. So here it goes...
We have officially moved into the back room of "R" building. The floor looks so beautiful and is very solid (thank you floor crew!) It will be so nice to practice and dance on.
"Ding Dong merrily on High, In heaven the bells are ringing"
The first Saturday in December we had the opportunity to perform a short Christmas program as apart of the Great Plains Opry. There was a professional photographer there that took some pictures for us (since our nice camera is still out of commission.) So here are some of them...
While we were waiting for our sound check time, John found the grand piano in the foyer of the performance center and when John and a piano get together we always enjoy listening to a spirited rendition of the piano concerto the "Turkish March".
Another pre-show pose!
What's wrong with this picture?
To put it mildly I got a haircut.
I really like having short hair; so, so far so good.
I also got my braces off and just have a retainer now.
What a relief!
Holiday Smiles!
The holly looks very festive on you banjo, Isaac!
John has also got a touch of festive fever and loves to wear red socks when he does the Christmas Polka.
Very Christmassy, John!
I found this random photo and could not leave it out.
Merry Christmas to one and All!
After our sound check on stage was over, we enjoyed a delicious Subway supper and then some very relaxed and hilarious conversations with our good friends Mr. and Mrs. Pfiel.
The visiting and chatting was by far our favorite part of the evening. We love talking with and getting to know these wonderful people better.
Thank you for being our friends and God bless you!
Show time!
Hey Joseph, is that a dancing song?
Of course it was, we started our program with the song, "Let's have an Old fashioned Christmas Polka". John and I had learned a short polka routine and had fun trying to dance it in a 10x15 rectangle.
Anyone who dances the polka will know that this is nearly impossible but who cares when you are having fun.
OH NO!!!
Someone "forgot" to bring in all of the carols that we were going to play.
Well Graham ran off stage, grabbed the music and when he was coming back with it he just happened to "accidently" trip, fall, and scatter the music all over the stage.
Oopps
So while everyone was "sorting" the music, I would start a carol and then Joseph would stick another song on the stand and then I would switch to the next song. Luckily everyone had the order of songs memorized so we did not really need the sheet music!
After playing through the medley with just the violin then the rest of the family sang through it while Graham was still trying to find the right song.
We will have to post a video of this!
It was classic.
Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow...
right, Graham?
"Joy to the World, The Lord is come,
let Earth receive Her King"
Then we ended with our favorite Christmas Song, One Bright Star.
At the very end of the show all of the people that played at the Opry came on stage and sang Jingle Bells.
This is just a taste of what we have spent this last month doing. It has kept us very busy but we have also felt God blessing our lives abundantly. We feel honored to be able to sing about the same joyful message that the angels sang about so long ago.
We wish you a Merry Merry Christmas this year and always!
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (Isaiah 9:6)
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14)
yay! a new entry!! now i need to keep up with my blog. it's a lot of work posting pics and keeping everyone updated. way to go, bets. we all miss having you and katie here. it sure was nice to have some extra hands and chit chat:) your pics are great from the opry and you guys look great practicing on that bamboo floor in "r" studio. i am hoping you will post pics of all the work that has happened since covey and i visited. that would be great!! it was so great seeing everyone last weekend. hopefully we can see you soon.
ReplyDeleteHey! The Wheadon Clan is in serious need of a copy of One Bright Star! We haven't been able to sing it for years. We look every year online and can't find it. I love that song and tried singing it to my boys at bedtime and couldn't even remember the words-which I don't know how thats even possible with how much I sang it growing up :) Glad you had such a great Christmas Season!
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