"It's cold in Bethlehem!"

Tonight's title is a direct quote of our 3-year-old granddaughter, Esther-Noel. And, Tullahoma's Bethlehem was definitely cold tonight...she is so right! She made this statement after she got to go out and experience the Bethlehem village this evening. The wind was blowing so it made it feel even colder. I tried to take some pictures of the Bethlehem village, but I just couldn't stand the cold nor could I keep the camera still. I had hoped to get some longer night exposures so took my monopod and hoped to be able to prop it up against some of the posts to keep the camera still. Well, I tried that and the wind just wouldn't let me keep the camera still even when it was propped. So I took the camera off the monopod and opened the flash and got a couple of good pictures of the manger and the camels and headed back inside! I ended up watching two of Nathan and Kathy's shows and again took scads of pictures. Hopefully there will be a couple of good ones that they can use for promotions. Once again their performances were superb (I'm only slightly prejudiced...but they truly are amazing!). Their performances were even better tonight than last night. They put on three shows each of the three nights...very tiring for the whole family! But they are all troupers!

Woody went on a four or five mile walk today. He said that he hadn't anticipated the wind so it was a bit colder than he had expected. Later in the morning he went to the Credit Union, WalMart, Lowes, Kroger, and Radio Shack. So we have food for me to make our Christmas meal, a battery for my kitchen timer, and light bulbs (CFL's) for our bedroom overhead light. We are in good shape! Grandchildren were in and out at one time or another today. Graham vacuumed our stairs...a big help for my back! Elijah had to come over and have Goosey read "EIEIO" to him. Abigail came over with good news from her ear surgeon appointment. The ear drum that they made and placed in her ear is doing better than expected at this point in the healing. It is already growing blood vessels. The surgeon was very pleased. Abigail is so hopeful that she won't have to have more ear surgeries! The children were all anticipating Kathy's parents' arrival. They got here in time to be able to go to one of the performances tonight much to the children's delight. I plan to stay home tomorrow and get ready (cook) for our family Christmas celebration on Friday. 'Tis the season!