Tour of Homes and Festival of Lessons and Carols

I started the day with a treadmill session and resistance exercises, which felt good after a two-day hiatus. While I was on the treadmill, Hubbie hung the flag on the well house, in honor of Pearl Harbor Day.

Then he peeled turnips to be cooked and put in the freezer. These are turnips that a Master Gardener delivered to us from his garden a couple of weeks ago. There are also two pumpkins, used as part of the outdoor fall display, that need to be roasted for the freezer, but we probably won't get around to these until next week.

About 11 a.m., Hubbie went to the WDCS to put gas in the van, and pick up a deli chicken for lunch. We enjoyed the chicken with baked potatoes and corn on the cob, while listening to Christmas CDs.

At 1 p.m., Hubbie and I went downtown for the Christmas tour of historic homes. Four American Foursquare homes were open to guests. The first home we visited is a single-family dwelling that had been converted to apartments, but is now restored to a family residence, again. The Christmas tree in this home featured a large collection of hand-blown glass ornaments. The massive antique dining room table seats 14 people. Originally, the owner said, there was a pedal at one end of the table that could be pushed to summon the butler.

The second home, now 100 years old, boasts several pieces of original furniture that are also approaching the century mark. This home has four fireplaces, pine floors, and a mahogany staircase. Instead of a clawfoot bathtub in the bathroom off the master bedroom, the tub stands on four brass eagles.

The third house keeps to a historic look in all but the kitchen, where there is a massive stainless steel refrigerator and stove. The patio adjoining the outbuilding features a huge fireplace built from large stones salvaged from nearby home renovations. Today, there was a roaring fire in the fireplace that felt good in the chill air.

At the fourth and last home, the most interesting feature (other than the architecture) was the Christmas tree that held a collection of "Wizard of Oz," ornaments, dating as far back as 1984. The staircase was lined with a collection of various sizes and designs of nutcrackers.

All of the homes are owned by young families, so each had cute children's playrooms and bedrooms, and lots of photos of the children. At one home, a dulcimer player entertained with Christmas music in the living room. Most of the homes had elaborate Christmas displays, but the owners of this home opted for decorations more nearly mirroring earlier times....like live magnolia leaves, pine springs and pine cones, etc.

Mother didn't join us for the tour, because most of the homes have high steps to the porches, with no hand rails. She also can't climb the stairways to the second floors of these homes. But we got back home in plenty of time to pick her up to go to the Festival of Lessons and Carols at 4 p.m.

Attending this service has become an annual tradition for us. The service consists of nine lessons that begin with Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden, to the promise of the Messiah, and then to the birth of Christ. Interspersed with the lessons are hymns and carols. Each year, the community flute choir provides music, as well as an organist and a guitarist.

This year, the organist played a beautiful piece called, "Cathedral in the Snow," which we had not
heard before, but which was accompanied by wind chimes that evoked images of a church nestled in winter woods, with a gentle wind rustling icy tree limbs.

Another moving part of the service was the chant of Psalm 85. And we were very impressed with the beautiful voice of a soprano who sang the Negro Spiritual, "Sweet Little Jesus Boy."

It was a very festive and pleasant day, but we were ready to relax when we got home.